Britons regard holidays as "essential rather than a luxury"

For many Brits, taking a holiday has become a necessity rather than a luxury one expert has said this week.

According to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), Brits are less likely to give up their holidays than their European counterparts, which may have something to do with the poor weather conditions in the UK.

ABTA's comments follow the release of data compiled from STR Global, released November 25th 2008.

The global hotel industry’s four regions reported mixed year-over-year results for October 2008.

According to STR Global, in Asia and Pacific occupancy down 7.4 per cent, in the Americas occupancy was down 6.4 per cent while in Europe occupancy was down - painting a pretty grim picture for tourism globally.

However in the Middle East and Africa occupancy was up 2.2 per cent with the largest occupancy increases in Cairo, Egypt (up 12 per) and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (up 3.6 per cent).

The credit crunch has also caused Brits to change their holidaying habits, rather than cut out breaks altogether.

According to the Thomson and First Choice Trends Report 2008-2009 47 per cent of people who had travelled overseas on holiday in the twelve months to June 2008 had done so purely independently - only 42 per cent had done so only using packages.

People may be compiling their own deals in a bid to save money during the tough times.

A spokesperson for ABTA explained that while October was quiet, as it traditionally is, the general all round picture is that Brits are sustaining their breaks.

He said: "The busiest months are July and August and we did see over the summer that the results were static year-on-year.

"We have our own figures saying that figures for this winter are up by one per cent. These are the British figures.

"The British market is perhaps, with us going abroad, slightly more resilient than other countries. Our figures are showing that."

According to the ABTA Holiday Survey conducted by Ipsos MORI in the first two weeks of September and published October 6th, 47 per cent will not adjust their travel plans because of the economic situation. However, 24 per cent were still undecided.

The ABTA spokesperson offered his thoughts on why Brits were refusing to give up their holidays.

He said: "We regard a holiday, certainly going abroad, as an essential rather than a luxury these days. That’s the main reason.

"We've been going abroad in large numbers since the 1970's and for most people it's something they don’t regard as a luxury anymore.

"We also have access to good deals, in terms of airline tickets and package tour operators prices, so we've got very good value, so all those things together really [help make the British travel market more resilient]."