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Almost half of Brits are planning staycations as majority feel 'unsafe' on planes

People flock to the sandy beach at Woolacombe, on the North Devonshire coast following the hottest August Bank Holiday Monday on record, with temperatures reaching 33.2C. The heatwave is set to continue for some parts of the UK after the record-breaking bank holiday weather.
People flock to the sandy beach at Woolacombe, on the North Devonshire coast following the hottest August Bank Holiday Monday on record, with temperatures reaching 33.2C. The heatwave is set to continue for some parts of the UK after the record-breaking bank holiday weather.

Almost half of Britons are planning holidays in the UK because most feel unsafe on planes, a poll has shown.

Data collected by polling agency YouGov found that 45% of Brits expect to travel in the UK in the next six months, despite travel quarantines being lifted to enable people to holiday abroad.

While only one in six people, 17% of those surveyed, plan to travel abroad in the next six months.

Nearly two thirds of the public, 64%, would not feel safe travelling by plane currently - up from 40% on 8 June.

People wear facemasks as they arrive at Belfast City Airport after face coverings on public transport became mandatory on Friday.
Nearly two-thirds of people said they wouldn't feel safe on a plane. (PA)

And more than half (55%) of those polled said they would feel unsafe on a train and 48% on a ferry.

It comes as a new survey suggested that nearly nine out of 10 companies involved in the UK's inbound tourism industry, which caters to foreign tourists visiting Britain, expect to make job cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The research was conducted by trade association UKinbound, which called for more government support to avoid "the collapse of previously successful businesses".

International visitors to the UK spent £28.4 billion last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It polled 59 tour operators and firms providing services such as transfers, hotel bookings and excursions.

Some 88% of respondents anticipate making between 25% and 100% of their staff redundant due to the coronavirus pandemic, and 53% expect their businesses to last no more than six months.

UKinbound chief executive Joss Croft said: "Those tourism businesses that rely wholly on international visitors for their livelihoods are on their knees.

"The risk of widespread redundancies and the collapse of previously successful businesses is a very real threat without further government support.

"Our inbound tourism industry is a vital part of the UK economy and we simply cannot recover or level up our economy without the value that international tourism brings to all regions of the UK."

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