In a proposal from the Department for Culture which is also backed by “tourism bosses” and several MPs, the May Day bank holiday could be moved to October to boost Winter tourism.
The idea is apparently to give Britons a day off between August and Christmas as the bank holidays are thought to be a little clumped, or at least that’s what the press was initially told. However, tourism bosses let slip that a bigger reason was to stretch the tourism season from the end of August to the end of October.
This proposal does not however fix an underlying issue that Britain has less bank holidays than most developed countries such as Italy with 16, Spain with 14 and even the United States with 12 bank holidays.
Personally I can’t see this going down well with the public for two reasons:
1) May Day bank holiday is traditionally the first bank holiday where there’s a high chance of sunshine, and although it is never guaranteed, this does the tourism sector the world of good. It is especially important as Easter can move around randomly.
2) In the Lake District at least and as far as I’m aware most other major tourism areas, the tourist season ends after the October half-term and hasn’t ended at the end of August for 20+ years. The seaside resorts might close in September, but Blackpool always manages it until November so that is quite possible. They also can’t mean parts of Scotland as they only start in November.
However there is one advantage I can think of – no more Morris Dancers in towns!
Do you want your bank holidays moved around? Add your comments below…
3 Comments
Yes! The October long weekend (as it is known in most states of Australia) is one of the most held out for holidays throughout the year. It helps keep people sane by shortening the time between “free” days off! Weather here in the UK is still great enough to get out and about. Bring it!
Trev,
To me the proposal sounds as logical as the spaghetti monster. When the busiest day on the roads in the UK is on a Friday in October, it makes perfect sense to make this weekend a Bank Holiday as the ingredients are already in place.
This sounds like a great idea to me. Bring it on!