Seb Blakemore does not need the sun to be shining for a dip off the Cornish coast. “I go swimming in the sea all the time,” he grins. “It’s definitely milder down here than it seems to be everywhere else.”
Despite his bravery, Blakemore admits guests at his luxury Cornish cottages are a little more discerning when it comes to taking the plunge. Warm weather, he says, is what they are after when they book with The Cornish Way in Penzance.
“We get an awful lot of people looking ahead at the weather, and calling on a Wednesday or Thursday trying to get down that weekend if it looks like it will be good,” Blakemore says. “Everyone was out swimming in the sea [last] Sunday,” he says. “We had a mini heatwave, you see. It was honestly just like an August day. Absolutely beautiful.”
That may sound picture-perfect, but for many British families it is not enough to be tempted away from foreign getaways this year.
While pandemic-induced travel restrictions brought about the rise of the “staycation”, swathes of families are now once again opting for holidays in far-flung destinations.
Cancellations for staycations surged 18pc the week after January 5, when the Government announced it was easing travel restrictions, compared to the previous two weeks, according to property management site Guesty.
Now, as families jet off for Easter breaks, Airbnb owners and restaurants in UK holiday hotspots are experiencing for the first time whether appetite for staycations will hold up in a post-pandemic world.
“The concern in the industry is that now all those travel restrictions have been lifted, Britons are obviously very keen to go abroad,” says Patricia Yates, chief executive of VisitEngland.
At the same time, she says, international travellers “are not quite coming back at the pace we need them to”.
Booking numbers at UK Airbnbs tell a similar story. Data compiled by AirDNA for the Telegraph suggests demand in April for these properties in Penzance dipped 15pc compared to last year, while those in Plymouth are 10pc lower and in Falmouth down 8pc.
Yates says this holiday period is crucial for many business owners: “Easter is the traditional time when the British holiday season kicks off. A number of destinations are keeping their fingers crossed for good weather.”
Currently, things appear to have returned to 2019 levels. VisitEngland figures last week suggested around 7.4m Brits are planning an overnight domestic stay over the Easter weekend, in line with pre-pandemic levels. “That’s good in that it gets us on the road to recovery, but it’s not brilliant,” Yates says.
Some locations are faring better than others. Kim Sui, who runs the eco-friendly retreat, Hideaway Under the Stars, in Scotland, says bookings are already coming in for 2023. “We’re actually already seeing more foreign visitors coming back as well,” she says.
