Britons Will Waste GBP 684 Million During Their Summer Holiday Replacing Items They Have Left at Home
Marketwired
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Jun 6, 2013) - Three quarters (75%) of Britons will be going on a summer holiday this year and in preparation for their annual break 52% of these holidaymakers will dedicate around seven hours packing their holiday essentials. Across the nation this adds up to a staggering 138 million man hours. However despite spending a full working day packing, British holidaymakers will collectively splash out £684 million during their holiday on an essential item they have left behind at home. These findings have been revealed in a new travel report out today.
The holiday research conducted by Travelodge surveyed 2,000 adults to investigate the nation's packing habits. Key findings from the report revealed 82% of holidaymakers find packing for their summer break very stressful. A fifth (20%) of Britons totally rely upon their partner to pack for them and one in ten (9%) adults aged between 25 to 34 years old farms it out to their mothers.
The research also revealed a fifth (21%) of lazy Britons just throw a selection of items into their suitcase and play pot luck with their belongings on holiday whilst 61% of adults pack with military precision and will dedicate time ahead of packing in preparing a detailed schedule and an essentials check-list prior to starting the task.
Despite this excessive planning and dedication of time, over half of the nation (51%) still forgets a vital holiday essential at home and will splash out a staggering £684 million (which equates to an average spend of £26.50) on forgotten items such as swimwear, a cardigan / jumper, a new pair of shoes, a pair of sunglasses and a new outfit.
Ironically, whilst British holidaymakers' bulging suitcases may be lacking a holiday essential more than two thirds (67%) of Britons reported they usually bring back home up to six unworn complete outfits and three pairs of shoes that were not suitable for their holiday.
Further in-depth research findings also revealed that Britons packing styles varies a lot across the country. Listed below are the top five most popular styles of packing.
Style of packing
Format of packing
Most popular style of packing in the following regions
Rollers
Fold and roll clothes into arrange in an orderly manner within their suitcase
Scotland, East Midlands, Northern Ireland
Wrappers
Neatly wrap each piece of clothing in tissue paper to prevent creasing
West Midlands, North East, South West
Stackers
Build a stack of clothes starting with the biggest items at the bottom and working up to the smaller items
East Anglia, North West
Shrinkers
Make complete outfits and vacuum pack to utilise space and aid un-packing
London, Wales,
Flingers
Throw everything into a bag with no order or folding involved
South East, Yorkshire
Shakila Ahmed, Travelodge Spokeswoman said: "Everyday around 30,500 customers check into over 500 Travelodge hotels across the country and our reception teams are inundated with requests so it's not surprising that Britons are spending £684 million on forgotten items."
To help Britons pack better for their holiday, Travelodge has developed a seven step guide to ensure no essential holiday items are left behind for this year's summer break.
Step One: Think What & Where
Consider everything you might be doing during your holiday (Posh dinners, sporting activities, sight seeing) then put your favourite items for these scenarios on your bed in piles of tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, jackets/cover-ups, swimwear. Anything that doesn't have a specific use doesn't need to come with you.
Step Two: Colour Code Clothes:
Look at everything and choose items based on the fact they will work with lots of other items. Thinking of a colour palette makes this even simpler. What you are doing here is ensuring everything works really hard and you don't end up lugging loads of things that just don't go with anything else and you will end up never wearing.
Step Three: Divide & Rule
Once you have decided on your clotting, lay it out on the bed before you place them in the suitcase and cut in half. It may sound drastic but it forces you to focus and just remember all the items you have taken on holiday before and never worn.
Step Four: Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'
Roll every item that can be rolled, as this will negate creasing. If you take anything remotely tailored, turn it inside out and tuck in the sleeves and it will arrive in the best shape possible.
Step Five: Bury the shoes
Pack shoes at the bottom of your suitcase and surround them with your underwear. Remember to pack into the corners of your bag - lots of space can be wasted by not filling a bag correctly.
Step Six: Go See Through
See through wash bags with compartments are brilliant for organising your toiletries. They tend to be lightweight and you can check quickly to see if you've forgotten anything
Step Seven: Weather planning
Look at an updated weather forecast just before packing to ensure you are taking the right clothes for the weather conditions at your destination.
Further research findings revealed that a third of Britons will be stowing away food and beverage favourites such as teabags, brown sauce, pork pies, digestive biscuits and marmalade into their suitcase to enjoy whilst on holiday.
1. For more information please contact the Travelodge press office on 01844 358703 or email pressoffice@travelodge.co.uk
2. The £684 million figure is calculated by:
51% of adults reported they generally leave an item behind at home
51% of the UK adult population is (51% of 50,654,000) = 25,833,540
£26.50 x 25,833,540 = £684,588,810
3. The 138 million hours calculation is:
75% (number of UK adults taking a summer holiday) of 50,654,000 = 37,990,500
52% (percentage of holidaymakers who spend seven hours packing) of 37,990,500 = 19,755,060 * 7 = 138,285,420 hours
4. Highlighted below are the top 10 most common forgotten items of clothing which is costing the nation £684 million to replace:
