The history of the staycation - Unit 11

C1 Advanced · Multiple Choice Reading · Complete Advanced Workbook, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read a magazine article about ‘staycations’. Choose the answer (A, B, C, D) which you think fits best according to the text.

It says a lot that the recent trend of spending a few days somewhere else in the UK has had to be given its own fancy name. Calling it a staycation (stay + vacation) not only makes it feel like something people have never done before, but also shows how we compare it to our now frequent trips abroad. A colleague told me that he ‘needed a holiday’ following his week on the English coast. This was followed by, ‘Oh that doesn’t count’ when what he’d done was pointed out. In the late 20th and early 21st century, we became so used to jetting off to exotic locations on a whim, that holidays were barely a holiday if it didn’t involve going through customs and immigration. Not only has this almost ubiquitous travel bug caused serious harm to the planet, it has also left many of our own wonderful seaside resorts a shadow of their former selves. Those bemoaning the lack of opportunity for foreign travel should remember that the vast majority of people who have ever lived never travelled more than a few miles from their birthplace. In the Middle Ages, the only reasons to travel were work, war or pilgrimage to religious shrines. In the UK in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was common for young men from wealthy backgrounds to take a ‘grand tour’ of Europe to round off their education, but the vast majority would still never leave their local area. The 18th century saw the rise in popularity of spas in towns such as Bath and Tunbridge Wells, where the upper classes would go to ‘take the waters’. Gradually lodging houses for visitors to stay, coffee houses, shops and recreational facilities like bowling greens grew up around the spas as a precursor to the modern holiday resort. From the mid-19th century, the coming of the railways led to a huge increase in the number of people heading towards Britain’s seaside towns. Doctors extolled the virtues of sea air and salt water for good physical well-being. While the rich took to spending weeks or months by the sea to recuperate after an illness, the poor still only had a single day’s holiday a year. The new railway companies were geared towards these day-trippers, who could now get from London to a coastal resort and back in one day. Historic photographs show bathing machines along the shoreline. These huts on wheels were for ladies to preserve their modesty while changing and entering the water. The tradition of the great British seaside holiday was born, the essential ingredients of which included seafood such as jellied eels and whelks, funny hats, sandcastles and deckchairs. The development of the seaside holidays mirrored the progress of workers’ rights. In 1939, a law was passed to give all workers one week’s paid holiday a year and by the 1950s, most workers got two. This period saw the rise of the holiday camp. Billy Butlin, whose first camp opened in 1936, wanted to make a ‘luxurious and affordable fantasy world’ for working class people. The massive success of the Butlin’s brand can be attributed to two main factors: the hire of the all-inclusive concept and the fact that the camps were ‘weather proof’. The British weather regularly ruined people’s precious week off work, but a Butlin’s ample single-price covered gymnasiums, reading rooms, theatres and even funfairs – meant that, as Billy himself put it, ‘You cannot spend a single dull moment.’ Holiday camps had their own culture, which older Britons look back on with fondness. Despite the fun to be had, they were rather regimented places, with ‘campers’ being woken up at 8am by music and daily announcements from the site’s many loudspeakers. Similarly, main seaside guest houses tended to be run by individuals or families with strict rules. It’s no surprise that in the later part of the 1960s, as more families got their own cars, camping and caravanning holidays became all the rage. Holidays abroad became a possibility for an increasing number of British residents throughout the 70s and 80s. 1979 was the first year that Britons spent more on overseas holidays than they did on holidays in the UK. The opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 connected England and France by rail, and the launch of budget airlines in 1995 made international travel cheaper and home-based tourism less attractive. Many young people born in the 1990s have spent more holidays in foreign hot spots than in our own beautiful UK tourist resorts. But if the current trend continues, that situation may no longer be the case and the staycation might be here to stay.

the sudden increase in holidays within the UK

the person’s recent trip within the UK

the lack of value placed on staycations

the reply the writer gave to the person

What do the words ‘that fact’ (line 13) refer to?

show how quickly the travel industry grew.

illustrate the lack of facilities in the early resorts.

criticise inequalities in society in the past.

explain that few people travelled until recently.

The main purpose of the second paragraph is to

They are a valued part of the country’s culture.

Working-class people didn’t benefit from them.

They were spoilt by the development of trains.

They are understandably no longer popular.

What does the writer suggest about British holiday resorts in paragraph 3?

The accommodation was better quality than at other camps.

They were much cheaper than most other holiday camps.

There were no extra expenses for holidaymakers.

They were the only camps which had entertainment facilities.

According to the writer, why did Butlins holiday camps attract so many visitors?

people wanted more freedom when they were on holiday.

they stopped being attractive to younger holidaymakers.

they weren’t successful at keeping up with new trends.

they didn’t allow people to bring their own vehicles.

In paragraph 5, the writer implies that holiday camps declined in popularity because

foreign holidays are preferable to staycations.

the UK is under-appreciated by the British.

British resorts need to cater better to tourists.

workers in the UK do not have enough holidays.

Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

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