2 May 22, 2022The Sunday TimesTravel
WHY ‘ANYWHERE’
IS THIS YEAR’S
HOTTEST
DESTINATION
T
LETTER OF THE WEEK
It was lovely to read the article by Russ
Moorhouse (“Wildest dreams”, last
week) — very inspiring for those working
around the clock. Wealth accumulation
is necessary, but not the only necessity.
Young people must stay focused; making
memories is just as important.
Experiences like those Russ had are
priceless — well done to him. I hope that
more people embark on wonderful
expeditions. Travel and connection
with nature is a great healer.
Dalop Roth, LeedsMy wife, Charlotte, and I bought an
Overlander vehicle and set off around the
world. That was two years ago and we are
now in South Africa, after driving along
much of the west coast of Africa, and we
will soon be heading up the east side of
the continent. I was 61 this week and
Charlotte is a couple of years younger.
It’s the best thing we have done in life.
David Stephenson, via thetimes.co.ukPITCH PERFECT
Your camping and glamping bonanza
reminded me of 1987, when my parents
and I embarked on our first camping
holiday, to Edale in Derbyshire. The tentwas ex-army (no groundsheet) and we
pitched it on a sloping farmer’s field,
which resulted in water flooding through
our temporary canvas home. We stayed
the course, however, and revelled in
probably the most stunning scenery of
the Peak District. I have since moved to
the county.
D Preston, DerbyshireThe Dandelion Hideaway in Leicester
is a perfect family glamping getaway,
working farm included.
MGTH, via thetimes.co.ukThere are many amazing campsites
in Northern Ireland. For back-to-basics
camping I would recommend Crom, a
National Trust site deep in Fermanagh
— a magical location where you can hire
boats and kayaks or explore the grounds.
Or there’s Castle Ward, on the shores of
Strangford Lough, where you can play
out your Game of Thrones fantasies.
B Berman, via thetimes.co.ukBETWEEN THE SHEETS
We laughed at Ben Machell’s account
of his big-tent purchase (“I really love my
big tent, but... ”, last week) as it closely
reflected the emotions attached to our
own. Our tent is much too heavy and its
huge bulk renders the packing-up process
a trial — it was a ridiculous purchase for
a couple in their sixties. Do we regret it?
Not for a moment. We’re looking forward
to our first camping trip very soon.
Edwina Campbell, SurreyTravel
The best of this
week’s emails, posts
and commentsYOUR
VIEWS
BIG
SHOT
Carry on
camping
FACE OFF
Congratulations
to Graham Tooth,
whose shot of
Gokyo Lake and
Ngozumpa Glacier
near Mount
Everest in Nepal
is this week’s
winner of our Big
Shot competition,
in association with
the adventure
cruise specialist
Hurtigruten
Expeditions
(020 3553 9842,
hurtigruten.co.uk).
He receives a
£250 John Lewis
voucher and
makes the shortlist
for the main prizes,
which include a
northern lights
expedition cruise.
Upload shots at
thesundaytimes.
co.uk/thebigshot
or enter on
Instagram: tag us
@TimesTravel and
use the hashtag
#STBigShotTerms & conditions This
week’s competition closes
at 11.59pm on Wednesday.
UK & ROI residents aged
18+ only. Full T&Cs apply:
see thesundaytimes.co.uk/
travelphotocompFor expert guides
to your favourite
destinations, plus
the latest travel
news and the best
trips and deals to
book now, see our
dedicated travel
website the
times.co.uk/travelT
he booking platform Airbnb
has overhauled its website in
what Brian Chesky, its chief
executive, called the “biggest
change in a decade” — a risky
move for a site that has 150 million users
and hosts 5.6 million listings. The revamp
led to the creation of 56 new categories,
from “Off-The-Grid” to “OMG!”; the latter
including everything from yellow
submarines to UFO-shaped homes.
Airbnb says that the driving factor
behind this was alleviating
overtourism in certain locations
— somewhat rich coming from
a company that must take
some responsibility for the
phenomenon; in New York
there are more Airbnb
listings than apartments
for rent. But there’s little
doubt that market forces
are also at play here: the
company cut a quarter of its
staff during the pandemic and,
like most of the travel industry,
is desperate to turn a profit again.
And the change will surely have been
data-led. Some 50 per cent of Airbnb
users are millennials, laser-focused on
quirky listings, which were added to
almost 20 million Airbnb wish lists last
year. The number of wish lists containing
the word “design” grew 175 per cent last
year compared with 2019, and it now
forms a category in its own right,
comprising 20,000 homes created by
architects including Le Corbusier.
“The way we travel has changed,”
said Amanda Cupples, the company’s
general manager for northern Europe.
“People are more flexible about where
and when they can travel, and are taking
longer trips than ever before.”
Instagram is also a powerful
driving force behind this
trend, of course, and staying
in a property that sings on
social media is becoming
more important than the
destination itself. Last
week I stayed at
Hesleyside Huts,
a glampsite in
Northumberland that I had
spotted on a former colleague’s
Facebook feed. When I shared it
with a friend his response was, “Let’s
book, imagine the photos we’ll get.”
Has where we choose to stay really
come down to how good it will look on
our feeds? Apparently so — Anna
Charlton, the Hesleyside owner, told
me that 70 per cent of her bookings
come from Instagram. “It’s not
Northumberland they come for; it’s the
chance to stay somewhere that their
friends haven’t been to and will look
great in photos,” she said.
In February the luxury camping andLUCY
PERRIN
Content Editorglamping website Canopy & Stars listed
the Beach House, a stilted hut on the Isle
of Sheppey in Kent; within days it had
been booked for the remainder of the
year. And this trend has played out
across multiple properties, with bookings
for the company’s treehouse collection
increasing by a third since before the
pandemic. “The more creative owners
get with building features such as rooms
behind bookcases and human-sized
beehives, the more demand grows for
out-of-the-ordinary stays,” said Emily
Enright, one if its directors.
Flight bookings are going the same
way: the top destination searched on
Skyscanner for this summer is
“Everywhere”, and 45 per cent of its
users — a third of whom are aged 25 to
34 — do not have a specific place in mind
when they start planning a holiday. After
two years of rules and red lists,
“anywhere” has never looked
more appealing.
Companies that put
together bespoke holidays
in which the destination
is only revealed to clients
at the airport are also
reporting an upsurge —
the Srprs.me site has
recorded a 57 per cent
increase in bookings on 2019figures and customers are spending
double the amount on trips. “It took the
faff out of planning, sorting out flights and
researching where to go,” said Louise Joy,
who booked one of these packages and
ended up in Milan. “I was happy paying
a little extra to have the excitement of
not knowing where I was going to end up.”
The big operators are noticing a similar
swing away from destination-based
booking. “There will always be a
thirst for big bucket-list trips,”
said Rachel O’Reilly of Kuoni.
“But there’s also a huge
demand for holidays where
people don’t have to leave
the hotel” — and about half
of customers call without
a destination in mind.
Holiday savings from
the pandemic are being
channelled towards hotel
upgrades, and the higher the price
tag the higher the likelihood that guests
will want their money’s worth out of
where they’re staying. “Not everyone
wants to spend hours rushing between
places and ticking off a massive
sightseeing list — a lot of people are
happy to have quality time together in
a gorgeous setting,” O’Reilly said. “That’s
why customers call us after seeing an
amazing photo of a beachfront hotel or
fairylight-covered treehouse on social
media or in a brochure and, say, ‘I don’t
care where it is, I want to stay there.’ ”It’s not Northumberland
they come for; it’s to stay
in a photogenic property