There’s something oddly satisfying about skipping the airport drama and keeping your summer holiday close to home. There’s no check-in desk stress, no passport anxiety, and absolutely no sitting in a departure lounge at 4 am, wondering why your gate changed three times. Instead, you just grab your bag, get on a train, and you’re off. Easy. Okay, sure, it really depends on the trains, or traffic if you take your car, but it really beats the planes, right?
Okay, so the UK might not seem that exciting when you see it every day, but the moment you stop and explore it like you would any other destination, it starts to feel different. Besides, nowadays in the summer, the UK is hotter than Hawaii, and depending on where you’re at, well, that can actually be a good thing (especially if you’re around the sea or beaches). Well, it turns out, there’s a lot to love right here at home.
The Views Deserve More Credit
Okay, so for starters, people fly halfway across the world to see a nice beach, and yet somehow forget the absolute coastal gems sitting right under everyone’s noses. For example, Cornwall? Unreal. Wales? Gorgeous. The Highlands? Like something out of a postcard. But even random countryside train routes can be downright cinematic. Basically, hundreds of thousands of tourists all over the world come to the UK for their holidays, and you just live there already, so why not embrace it?
Again, you don’t need a passport to be somewhere beautiful. It’s already here. It’s just waiting for someone to ditch the airport queues and take it all in properly.
London Counts Too
Okay, so some places were listed above that are gorgeous, right? Well, somehow, London gets overlooked by people who already live in the UK. But it's one of those places that always feels like a proper trip, even if you've been ten times before. There’s always a new rooftop bar, a secret speakeasy, or a pop-up art show to stumble across.
Besides, if you’re wrapping up your trip in the capital, you can still make the most of those last few hours before heading home (or a new location, such as if you’re taking a train to a whole other location (be it North, South, or West of the London). So, for example, you can drop your bags at Kings Cross luggage storage, grab brunch in Soho, maybe squeeze in one last museum, then wander back for your train without feeling like a walking suitcase. It’s the little things that make it all feel so much smoother.
Okay, sure, a lot of tourists do that, but you know what? They’re pretty smart for doing that, because why would you want to deal with luggage when you can have a nice time?
It’s So Much Less Stressful
It was mentioned multiple times, but this one should be hammered down again. So, no one enjoys standing in a security line wondering if their shampoo is going to cause a scene. Travelling in the UK cuts all that out. No liquid rules. No awkward full-body scans. No gate changes with four minutes to spare.
But you actually get to relax from the moment you leave the house. You know where you're going, how it works, and you won’t need to decode another language just to order a sandwich. And when the whole point is to unwind, starting chilled makes all the difference.
You’ll Save More than You Think
Okay, so let’s be honest, international travel eats into the budget fast. It’s unfortunate, but yeah, it’s true. So, you got the flights, insurance, transfers, and foreign transaction fees. Suddenly, half your holiday spend is gone before you even arrive.
But if you stick to the UK, and you’ve got more to splash on things that actually matter, like fancy dinners, spa days, or an extra-long lie-in at a boutique B&B. You can even do a last-minute upgrade without needing to re-mortgage your house.
You Can Actually Switch Off
Getting realistic here, half the time abroad is spent trying to work out what things mean. Is this the right bus? What’s on this menu? Why is everyone looking at me like I’ve done something weird?
But if you stay local, and all that background noise disappears. You’re not trying to figure anything out. You’re just enjoying yourself. You don’t need to check Google Translate every ten minutes or worry if your debit card will work. You can just be present. And that’s when you actually feel like you’re on holiday.
On the heels of reports relaying superb market growth, as well as a potential roadblock that might just be on the horizon, the UK has pledged £380 million in the form of a Creative Industries Sector Plan. The funding is to be targeted at supporting innovation, research and development, skill development, access to finance, and regional growth.
Further, the plan aims to encourage double the amount of business investment to over £30 billion by 2035. With this, some 2,000 new film and TV apprenticeships will be delivered, further propelling the UK creative industries into the future. The investment packages look to ride a wave of momentum that sees the UK closing in on Europe’s leading market.
Even before this latest investment announcement from the UK government, key creative industries were rolling high. Data from the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024-2028 report by PwC indicates that, last year, UK revenue in the market eclipsed £100 billion. Over the next few years, revenue is expected to hit £121 billion, with cinema and streaming services earmarked as the key drivers of this growth.
By the end of this year, the report predicts the UK to have overtaken Germany as Europe’s largest entertainment and media market. The growth is also being reflected in an increase in consumer spending at home. The latest figures, reflecting spending last year, saw spending breach £5 billion for the first time to clock in at £5.1 billion. This plays into the importance of streaming, but also other forms of home entertainment.
Digital and physical sales of media, as well as rentals, also contributed. Then, there’s also the corner of iGaming entertainment and its place in the UK’s sector. A £2.6 billion increase from 2025 to 2029 is expected, buoyed by the competitive landscape that incentivises innovation. This is clear to see in the bingo offers that span multiple facets of the entertainment medium. Covering in-house bingo, online bingo, and free spins on slots, the £80 welcome bonus can be attained for £20. Clearly, competition is creating excellent conditions for players.
Being such a colossal market, the United States is coveted as a landing spot for entertainment productions. If you can stick in the US, especially as a UK-based creation, you look set to potentially quintuple your audience. Further, the UK has benefited from being inviting to big-money productions based out of Hollywood, with incentives offered that certainly don’t overshadow the economic impact of a major production coming to these shores.
Now, there’s trouble on the horizon. As one of many areas hit by strays in the government’s scattershot approach to tearing down globalisation, the White House has mused a foreign film tariff. UK film unions have warned that a tariff in the region of 100 per cent, which has been touted by the US president, would be a “knockout blow” for the industry. The idea of the tariff is apparently targeting films “produced in foreign lands,” aiming to bring filming back to the US.
Entertainment, media, and the creative sector as a whole are riding high in the UK right now, and will receive further investment from the government. Unfortunately, decisions made overseas may have more of an impact than millions of pounds.
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