Where did everybody go?
London, UK November 11th 2020 ---- The government's sudden announcement of a second lockdown last Saturday prompted many different reactions - but thousands of people took it as the signal to pack a bag, leave the country and wait out a month of English lockdown somewhere sunnier. Holiday Extras looks at how many people escaped lockdown and where they went.
The government's announcement on Saturday 31st October that lockdown would resume on Thursday night didn't give people in England much time to decide how they'd spend another month of restrictions. But even in that brief window almost 5,000 people managed to book a trip that took them out of the country until at least 2nd December, drive to the airport, park up and fly away for the duration. That's according to Holiday Extras, the UK market leader in airport parking, who saw a surge in bookings, and especially month-long parking bookings, almost as soon as Prime Minister Boris Johnson had stepped down from the podium.
In the four days between lockdown being announced and lockdown resuming, Holiday Extras took 4,939 airport parking bookings of at least a month's duration. And with so many restrictions on where people can fly to and from, the top ten destinations to escape lockdown includes some interesting choices.
Book your holiday extras early
It pays to book your airport parking, airport hotel or your lounge as soon as you book your flights. Prices usually go up nearer the date you fly, and last year Holiday Extras saved our airport parking customers £100 each on average when they pre-booked their airport parking instead of paying on the day.
Book Yours TodayTop of the list, like always, is Spain, especially the Canary islands. Year-round sun and one of the few extant travel corridors made it the top choice for people flying escaping a month of lockdown. But also in the top ten came Dubai and St Lucia - the latter in normal times accounting for only a handful of UK holiday bookings, but last week making the top ten destinations for the first time ever.
Destination | |
---|---|
1. | Spain | 2. | United Kingdom |
3. | Portugal |
4. | Greece |
5. | Cyprus |
6. | Dubai |
7. | Turkey |
8. | Germany |
9. | The Netherlands |
10. | St Lucia |
Seamus McCauley, Head of Comms at Holiday Extras, commented:
"Escaping the undeniable hassles of another lockdown by jetting off for the whole month is an impressive move for nearly five thousand people to pull off with barely four days' warning."
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