An independent online travel agent, www.sunshine.co.uk, issued the results of a survey last week . Apart from things which you could probably guess, for example, 77%of people made a new years’ resolution to lose weight , the survey also said that 60% or respondents (the survey covered 1,225 people) do more exercise while they are on holiday for a week than they do thoughout the entire year at home.
If this survey is of active people perhaps it is right. But if it is a random sample then most people go on holiday to relax. A large portion of those will prefer to lounge on the beach be it in Benidorm, Torquay or Skeggie. The most exercise they might get would be a gentle swim in the sun or building up arm muscles by the application of sun tan lotion. But maybe exercise includes a gentle swim rather than a hike. Maybe a splash in the hotel pool is exercise. After all less than a fifth of people have gym memberships in the UK and most don’t walk to work but take the car, bus or train.
So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. As Chris Brown, MD of Sunshine.co.uk says, “It just reiterates how important a holiday is.” Just as in Victorian times when doctors used to recommend people to go away to a resort to improve their health, maybe doctors today will say the same thing. And maybe we’ll get it on the NHS
No that last thought seems a bit unlikely but the travel industry would love it!
