Croatia holidays: Brits sacrificing winter breaks

Many Brits are showing a willingness to sacrifice winter breaks in favour of the Croatia sailing holidays and other getaways they have planned in the summer months, new research suggests.

Some 20 per cent fewer UK consumers intend to take a holiday either at home or abroad this winter, according to a Christmas poll carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The professional services firm said that "despite fears of a prolonged recession, the consumer intention is still to preserve the annual summer holiday at the expense of the winter version".

A sixth (16 per cent) of the people surveyed in December 2009 said their top spending priority this year will be a summer getaway such as a Croatia sailing holiday.

On recent trends in the travel industry, David Trunkfield, leisure director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, commented: "Last year we already saw a big shift to late booking, due to uncertainty over job prospects. But this year there may be a switch back, as the lack of capacity last summer meant decent late deals were few and far between.

"Those consumers who left it too late might be tempted to book earlier, especially if operators promote deals sooner rather than later."

Croatia sailing holidays will be made more accessible for people based in south-east England next year when easyJet launches new flights to Split and Dubrovnik from London Stansted.