Let it rain

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Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

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rain

Let it rain, let it rain.
Let it rain, rain, rain

– Eric Clapton

Faced by volcano ash clouds, a weak currency, collapsing travel companies and British Airways cabin crew strikes, who could blame millions of Britons for becoming ‘staycationers’ this year and shunning foreign holidays?

Formerly strong forward booking trends for foreign holidays have stalled abruptly since late May, leading to deep concern throughout the UK tourism industry.

But help may be at hand in the form of the oldest British holiday phenomenon of all – the weather. This August has been lousy. In fact worse than lousy. If, like me, you have cancelled a foreign holiday and stayed in the UK, you will have been faced with rain more days than not throughout the supposedly hottest month.

It’s been cold, wet and entirely, emphatically miserable. As have many of us.

So don’t bet too much money that the UK outbound market will be soft again next summer. Escaping with the kids to somewhere such as Greece or Spain in mid-2011 sounds a lot more attractive than trying to escape from them in Blackpool or Brighton as the skies vent their fury above.

Make no mistake about it. The Brits will be back in a holiday location near you sooner than you can say ‘full English breakfast’ and that’s got to spell good news for travel retailers around the globe. Let it rain, let it rain.

rain flag