Staying Home for the Holidays

Staycations don't have to be budget affairs to be cost-effective. Without the expense of travel—just getting there typically accounts for 50 percent of holiday costs—vacationers often have more money for splurges. Indeed, some families are escaping the economic gloom by checking into their neighborhood's top hotels. The Maybourne group in London—which owns the superexpensive Berkeley, Claridge's and Connaught hotels—estimates that during the Easter period 25 percent of its U.K. visitors came from within London. In Brazil, the trend is even more pronounced: top hotels report a surge in locals checking in for short breaks. "During this year's Carnaval we had more Brazilians staying with us than tourists," says Marianna Galaxe, who works in the Sheraton hotel in Rio. "With the dollar so high our best option is to stay around here. But it's not like you have to go far to find beautiful beaches."

In some cases, staycations can engender a recondite patriotism. Swiss photographer Roderick Aichinger recently took his first holiday on home turf and was amazed by what his own country could offer. "I was surprised how relatively low-budget I could get around," he says. "I stayed two nights at the bottom of a glacier in Pontresina. The view in the morning was visual brain gymnastics."

The globe-trotting Scandinavians are also rediscovering local haunts. "Swedes love to travel," says Ann-Charlotte Jönsson, who works in Stockholm's tourist bureau. "But for the time being, people are cutting back and using what we have right here." She says the residents of industrial towns dependent on big Volvo and Saab factories have been especially hard hit, and many of them plan to head this summer to a cluster of local islets with long daylight hours and wild nudist beaches. "[Swedes] have something called 'all man's right'," she explains. "You can stay on someone else's land and pick bluebells and mushrooms. As long as you don't disturb the landowners, you can stay in a camper anywhere."

Some experts fear that governments are encouraging the staycation as a form of protectionism. Historically, for example, the French have bought home-built Citroëns and vacationed domestically—around 65 percent of the nation's tourism is domestic-related—propping up their economy in the process. If enough other tourists opt for their own sofas over the sun lounge, could the global economy ultimately suffer? Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, says that if, for instance, millions of Americans stay home this holiday season, "they will have an effect on the domestic economy—but it will actually reduce the international stimulus. If [the U.S. economy] grew inwards rather than outwards, we'd end up with the global economy being adversely affected."

The WTTC's Baumgarten isn't worried. He's confident that the international tourism sector will bounce back quickly. "All our surveys show that travel is still very high on the agenda," he says. "The modern world is one that creates a lot of stress. Traveling for pleasure is becoming a way of life—in some places it's becoming a right."

Meanwhile, savvy travelers like Murrell are learning to enjoy vacation time without palm trees and balmy evenings. "Admittedly, it's hard to get in the holiday swing without the buzz you get from a change of scene and hot weather," she says. "But I'm finding stimulus in the everyday. Even though I live here, East London is an exciting, curious place to explore. It's a good trick to try and see it from a tourist's view." While the pundits pore over the machinations of the world travel economy, the public is learning to love the simple pleasures of a holiday: fun, food, family and seeing the world—even a familiar part of it—through new eyes.

With Alexandra A. Seno and Anita Kirpalani

© 2009