• Brits would budget an average of £946 per person for a week-long dream holiday
• The average budget would cost 45% of the UK’s average monthly salary
• People from Scotland budget the most, while those in South West budget the least
• Top budgeting cities are Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leeds
• Londoners would budget two times their weekly wage for a week-long dream holiday

For Brits about to go on their summer holidays or thinking about where and what to do next year, the need to budget and decide what type of holiday they want is a pressing one.

To find out what Brits would spend on their dream holidays, Villa Plus surveyed 1000 people across the UK. Villa Plus asked respondents how much they would budget per person for a week a week-long dream holiday and compared this to new weekly earnings data from the ONS (Office of National Statistics).

Brits budget almost twice their weekly wage

According to the results of the Villa Plus survey, Brit’s budget an average of £946 per person for a week-long dream holiday. Equating to almost twice (1.9x) the UK average weekly income (excluding bonus’) of £488.

Map showing the salary % people would budget for a dream holiday

 

Within these findings, Villa Plus was able to see which regions of the UK budget most for their dream holiday. What they found was a variation of over £460 from the highest to lowest budgets, with those in Scotland budgeting over 60% more than those in the South West of England.

Region	Average Budget	% Monthly Income
Scotland	£      1,191	56%
North East	£      1,000	47%
London	£         997	47%
North West	£         984	47%
Wales	£         960	45%
Yorkshire and the Humber	£         956	45%
South East	£         936	44%
Northern Ireland	£         895	42%
East Midlands	£         892	42%
West Midlands	£         874	41%
East of England	£         867	41%
South West	£         729	34%

Glaswegians budget the most

For a closer look at dream holiday budgets across the UK, Villa Plus examined the dream holiday budgets in each of the UK’s major cities.

They found that Glaswegians would budget over 32% more than the UK average for a dream holiday, while those in Plymouth would budget 17% less.

City	Average Budget
Glasgow	£                1,247
Leeds	£                1,110
Edinburgh	£                1,103
Brighton	£                1,037
Liverpool	£                1,003
Cardiff	£                   999
Newcastle	£                   983
London	£                   953
Manchester	£                   945
Sheffield	£                   917
Belfast	£                   895
Norwich	£                   893
Nottingham	£                   854
Southampton	£                   850
Birmingham	£                   830
Bristol	£                   783
Plymouth	£                   782

In response to their findings Chirac Shah, online marketing manager at Villa Plus, said “Our findings show that the public are looking to enjoy their dream holidays to the fullest. By budgeting such a large portion of their monthly salary to enjoy a dream holiday, it’s clear that this time is valuable to them and dream holidays are an investment and reward rather than an expense”.

Over 55’s would spend the most

While not a complete surprise, Villa Plus’ survey found that people over the age of 55 would pay almost 40% more on dream holiday than those below the age of 35.

Age Range	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55+
Average Budget	£ 816.64	£ 831.26	£    965.85	£ 1,088.55	£      1,141.81

“It doesn’t come as a surprise that the over 55 market would budget more on a dream holiday, most will have worked for over 20 years and are looking to reward themselves for their long hours and days in their place of work.” Said Chirac Shah.

Sources:

• Villa Plus –
• Average weekly wage sourced from – https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/august2018#average-weekly-earnings