Two Thirds of Brits Make Friends on Holiday

Sept. 7, 2011 - PRLog -- It seems that holidays abroad are the ideal scenario in which to meet new friends, with two thirds of Britons claiming they did exactly that on their last overseas trip; according to research by the UK’s fastest growing online independent travel agencies.

www.sunshine.co.uk carried out the study as part of ongoing research into the holiday habits of British holidaymakers. 2,016 UK adults were polled in the study, each of whom had been abroad on holiday in the past 12 months. Respondents were asked questions surrounding their last trip abroad and what they got up to on their holiday.

When asked, ‘Did you socialise and/or make friends with fellow holidaymakers on your last trip abroad?’ 67% of those who took part in the study said ‘yes’. These respondents were then asked whether or not they had kept in touch with any of the people they met on their last holiday, to which a third, 35%, said ‘yes’.

Of those who hadn’t kept in touch, 28% said they would have liked to, but they didn’t exchange contact details with the people they had met. 2% of those who had kept in touch with the people they met on holiday said they were planning on going abroad together at the same time in the future.

Sunshine.co.uk asked those respondents who had made friends whilst on holiday where they lived back home in the UK, in order to find out where was home to the ‘friendliest’ holidaymakers. According to the results, the friendliest holidaymakers, based on those who are most likely to make friends with fellow tourists on holiday, were from the following areas:

1.       Yorkshire
2.       Devon
3.       Essex
4.       Glamorgan
5.       Cornwall
6.       Sussex
7.       Nottinghamshire
8.       Herefordshire
9.       Avon
10.   Aberdeenshire

When asked, whether they thought meeting friends had made their holiday more enjoyable, 91% of those who had said they thought that was the case.

Chris Brown, co-founder of sunshine.co.uk, commented on the findings;

“Some people like to go on holiday and keep themselves to themselves, whilst others enjoy mingling and meeting new people. I think it’s great when you meet people on holiday that you get along with and to see that some were even planning to go away again with those very people they had met was quite a revelation!

“Providing the people you meet don’t end up wanting to spend every minute of every day with you and your family, meeting new people with similar interests can add a new dimension to a holiday and can give you much more to talk about and a lot more to do!”

LINK http://www.sunshine.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis PR Agency on 01452 348211 or email Shannon@10yetis.co.uk

Editors Notes

sunshine.co.uk is the UK's leading online independent travel agent and was founded by Chris Brown and Chris Clarkson, the same people behind Holiday Watchdog which was bought by TripAdvisor in February 2008 for an undisclosed amount of money.

Chris Brown of sunshine.co.uk was a ‘Secret Millionaire’ in the series on Channel 4 that began in October 2010.

Sunshine.co.uk offers low cost holidays and budget flights to destinations all over the world as well as great deals and discounted hotels.

TravelMole recently voted sunshine.co.uk as the best Travel Agency in the 2010 web awards.