Holidays and Habits

By(amended By )

The British people have just discovered a new country.It’s called the UK! More and more people are choosing to take their holidays in their own country rather than travel abroad.

1 One of the most traditional British holidays is the ‘seaside holiday’.Stereotypically, families get on a train or into a car and travel to British seaside towns such as Brighton and Blackpool.They sunbathe on the beach,buy ice creams, eat fish and chips, build sandcastles with a bucket and spade, and go for donkey rides.

2 In the late 1970s, air travel became affordable for the average family in the UK, and more and more British people started travelling abroad for their summer holidays(July–August).After all, the British weather isn’t very good, even in summer, so a lot of Britons leave the UK for a vacation.Particularly popular with families on a budget is the ‘package holiday’, where the cost of fl ights and accommodation are offered as one discounted price by travel agents.

3 In the 1980s and 1990s, young people in the UK became more wealthy, or at least had more disposable income.As a result, the Club 18–30 holiday became popular.Young people started to go abroad in groups, to places such as Spain and Greece.Once at their destination, they socialised with other groups of young people and had one long party.

4 British holidaying habits have begun to change, however.Climate change means that the UK now has a warmer climate than before, so people don’t always feel they need to go overseas to find good weather.Also, the world seems a less certain place as interconnected economies rise and fall, which means that the cost of foreign holidays is less predictable than it used to be.As a result, more and more Britons are choosing to spend their summer holidays in the UK.

5 In recent years, British hotels in areas such as the English Lake District have seen a large increase in bookings.That rise is mainly owing to the British staying in their own country for their holidays.In addition, for some foreign tourists, the UK is a cheaper place to visit than previously because of changes in the value of the British pound.

6 In the UK, the domestic tourism industry—when people go on holiday in their own country—is healthier than it has been in decades.UK newspapers have even invented a new word: a ‘staycation’.It is a slang term to describe the sort of vacation when people stay in their own homes and go on a few day trips rather than spending money on hotels.

7 In some ways, therefore, the UK has come full circle.There is now an increased appreciation among Britons for the diversity of the UK.It is not just the geography, which ranges from the flat fens of East Anglia to the valleys of Wales to the mountains of Scotland, that is diverse.And it is not just the diversity of climate-based activities on offer, which range from surfing in the warm south-west of England, to hillwalking and skiing in the north, it is also the diversity of the cultures in the UK that is beginning to be of interest to domestic tourists.People forget sometimes that there are different accents, languages, traditions, cuisines and peoples across all the regions of the UK.It’s not just England,Scotland, Wales and Ireland that are different from each other.Each country has its own regions, and each of those regions is very different from all the others.

The UK has always been famous for its international explorers, but now it is starting to discover itself.

Fun corner

Words that sound the same but are spelt differently are known as ‘homophones’.In each pair of homophones, choose the spelling that is related to the theme of holidays.

1 a.weatherb.whether

2 a.orb.oar

3 a.seeb.sea

4 a.sunb.son

5 a.surfb.serf

6 a.peerb.pier

7 a.beachb.beech

8 a.breakb.brake

Word of the day

A ‘staycation’ is a slang word used to describe a vacation you spend at home.

Activity 1: Headings

There are seven paragraphs numbered 1 to 7.See if you can match the headings below with the correct paragraph.

aFootloose and fancy free

bPopular press

cSobering up

dThe length and breadth

eFlights of fancy

fSun, sea and sand

gOn the up

Activity 2: Synonyms

For each paragraph, find the word or phrase that means the same as those below.

1 in general

2 not too expensive

3 money available to spend

4 global markets

5 before

6 excursions

7 customs

Activity 3: Anagrams

Here are some words from the article.The letters of each word have been mixed up.See if you can rearrange them correctly.

1 uaesnbth

2 eeathwr

3 htlwyae

4 mlcteai

5 oienrfg

6 noivctaa

7 fgrsiun

Answers

Activity 1

a 3

b 6

c 4

d 7

e 2

f 1

g 5

Activity 2

1 stereotypically

2 affordable

3 disposable income

4 interconnected economies

5 previously

6 day trips

7 traditions

Activity 3

1 sunbathe

2 weather

3 wealthy

4 climate

5 foreign

6 vacation

7 surfing

Fun corner

1 a

2 b

3 b

4 a

5 a

6 b

7 a

8 a