The Silver Spenders
A new survey of travel habits has discovered that holidaymakers aged 60 years and over are likely to spend more than any other age group. On average those aged between 60 and 69 pay out approx. £1248 per person plus an additional £454 in spending money when in search of the perfect holiday!
This is a lot in comparison to younger people aged between 18 and 29 who are more budget conscious, looking to spend £968 per person. This figure is a combination of a holiday of £540 and a further £428 outlay in cash.
Approximately 5,256 British holidaymakers were questioned about their holiday habits by a well-known travel website. The study has shown that a person’s spending habits on holiday tends to increase gradually as the holidaymaker becomes older, for example, someone in their 30s are more likely to splash out more than those in their 40s. The child factor for many in their 30s means that they are in turn looking for a much cheaper holiday spending just £585 as parents look for holiday bargains. However, once the children have flown the nest, empty-nest parents start to think and spend for themselves as they have no one else to think about!
The survey has shown that holidaymakers over the age of 50 tend to push their holiday budget further spending approx. £1195 per person and are more likely than any other age group to hop on a city break. The big spenders are people aged between 60 to 69, with very few commitments, who don’t seem to worry much about their how much they spend on their holiday and are more than likely to visit exotic worldwide destinations. As soon as people enter their 70s, they have been found to be more cautious about their holiday spend preferring to stay closer to home and staying in more familiar resorts such as Spain.
It would seem that whilst many holidaymakers juggle family commitments, tight financial budgets or school timetables as soon as retirement arrives, they are looking to make the most of their free time.