Lifetime value of a British traveller is identified

According to new research commissioned by RCI in conjunction with Mintel, on average Britons spend 840 days holidaying abroad and pay £39,900 on accommodations alone over the course of their lifetime.

The study, to find the 'lifetime value of a British traveller', showed that in 2007 the average Brit went on two holidays a year, each lasting one week, generating a total spend of £665* on accommodation - this equates to a huge £39,900 across a lifetime.

And yet the fact that over half of people in the UK now plan to forgo an overseas holiday** suggests worrying times ahead for the travel industry.

The ongoing global credit crunch, a cooling property market and inflation have resulted in the majority of people viewing holidays as a luxury purchase, with only 17 per cent of the population seeing them as a "necessary" spend, according to the study.

However, holidaymakers need not miss out. RCI, the world's largest timeshare exchange company, says it can deliver the same holiday time to its members at a massive saving of more than £23,000 on average per person.

An RCI member, who owns a timeshare, will spend an average of just £15,175 on holidays of the same duration in their lifetime. The RCI exchange network may allow members to exchange their RCI Points or Weeks for holidays at over 4,000 affiliated resorts worldwide.

RCI has reported a dramatic increase in enquiries for its 'Weeks' and 'Points' products, which is not surprising when you compare what its members spend compared to the 'lifetime value of a British Traveller' figures revealed in the research.

Brett Archibald, senior vice president, business development at Group RCI in the UK, comments: "During the credit crunch, timeshare represents increasingly good holiday value and although many Brits may be forced to cut back, Group RCI members can rest assured that they have budgeted in advance for a well-earned holiday. In addition, our members can choose breaks from a wide portfolio of holiday properties, such as lakeside retreats in Finland, a spa hotel in the UK, or perhaps a beach resort in Florida."

Simon Calder, TV and radio broadcaster said: "We all want a holiday to look forward to. This survey from RCI suggests that British travellers are cutting back on the number of short breaks they take - let's face it, cheap flights have made us positively promiscuous when it comes to going abroad. It looks as though we may be re-focussing on a solid week or two away which means that more people will be considering timeshare and shared-ownership products".

* Based on a cost of two-week accommodations of £665 excluding inflation, travel and spending money, multiplied by 60 years of vacations in the average lifetime of 76 years. Over 2,000 people were interviewed by Mintel as part of the study in October 2007. Mintel is a global supplier of consumer, media and market research. It has been providing market intelligence for hundreds of consumer and industrial products and services for more than 35 years.

** According to Mintel, in 2007 just 45 per cent of Britons took one or more holidays abroad

***£15,175 equals the cost of timeshare purchase for two weeks (£13,000), annual maintenance fees (£500), annual exchange fees (£238), and annual RCI membership fees (£57), divided by 4 to obtain the per person cost for a family of four. Figures taken from Group RCI membership database, May 2008

Reproduced from Travel Daily News International