Britain’s reputation for breeding adventurous, globetrotting holidaymakers might be unwarranted according to the findings of a recent survey.
The survey, which was carried out by Jungle Formula, a company that manufactures insect repellent, indicated that that a large percentage of Brits either do not travel abroad at all, or do so reluctantly. Of the two thousand people that were questioned for the survey, 20 percent had never been on a foreign holiday, and 50 percent of those that had taken holidays abroad regretted not having stayed in the UK.
The tedium of being processed through airports was cited as the biggest deterrent to taking a foreign holiday, with 62 percent of respondents admitting to being airport-phobic. This, coupled with the lengthy travel times involved with foreign holidays, a factor that discouraged 76 percent of those questioned, meant that just getting to the destination was considered a major hurdle by the majority.
The famous British reticence to communicate in anything other than English was another deterrent to visiting foreign lands, with 31 percent uncomfortable with attempting to converse in a foreign language. And communication can be a particular problem when a traveller suffers illness or injury, as had been the case with 50 percent of those that had travelled abroad.
Other more minor irritations that were mentioned when taking foreign holidays included the packing that is involved, the need for vaccinations, and a reluctance to take children to unfamiliar territories.
So although Great Britain might be famous for its intrepid travellers from history, it seems that the spirit of Raleigh, Cook and Livingstone is burning less than bright in today’s timid tourists.
