HOLIDAY SEASON (SPREADOVER) (Hansard, 11 March 1953)

§ Sir Ian Fraser (Morecambe and Lonsdale)

There are about 25 million people who manage to take a holiday each year. Two-thirds of them go to the seaside, and two-thirds go in July and August. They mainly go in the last two weeks of July and the first three weeks of August and this severe concentration has certain adverse effects. It raises the cost of holidays in these two months because the law of supply and demand operates that way, and makes most holidays more expensive than they need be.

Further, it causes very great hardship or over-work or difficulty for the people who provide the holiday. They sometimes have to work 16 hours a day to look after their guests as they would like to do. They have to concentrate their money-making in a very brief time and then suffer unemployment in a large part of the year. It is very uneconomical and very hard on these people, and there are many owners of hotels and boarding houses who have the anxiety and pain of having to turn away good visitors because 1468 they cannot fit them in during this brief season. However, in spite of these difficulties, boarding house or hotel keepers, or small shop-keepers, or those enterprising people who provide amusement, do their job and look after their visitors very well.

Some people have to take their holidays when their firm closes down. Others have to take theirs at a certain time because of their children's holidays. But the Holidays and Travel Association have shown me figures which support the view that probably half of all the people who take holidays are free to choose the time at which they take them, and a great many more might be free to do so if we gave thought to this matter.

June is the month of best weather and the longest days, and there is a great deal to be said for taking one's holiday then. But 20 per cent. of the people who take holidays go in the first or second week of August in order that the Bank Holiday may be included, thereby gaining an extra day. This is partly habit and partly a desire to gain an extra day.

It has been suggested that we should alter the Bank Holiday and have it later in August. Not everyone is in favour of that suggestion, but it is certainly worth studying whether that change should be made. It has been asked on previous occasions that school holidays should be staggered instead of all occurring at about the same time in the second or third week of July. I suggest that this matter should be studied once more and that we should try to see whether we cannot do something about it instead of letting it go by the board.

The Government might also consider whether it is worth while engaging in and paying for an advertising campaign for the purpose of inducing people to take their holidays in June or September. I am sure that it would be profitable to the nation if such a campaign were instituted and if it were to succeed.

Again, British Railways might introduce a differential rate in June and September to encourage people to travel in those months. They could, perhaps, institute something similar to the new Scottish Starlight train for taking people from the great centres of population to 1469 the holiday towns at lower fares in June and September than those charged in July and August.

Boarding houses charge less during June and September, and therefore it would be more economic for people to form the habit of going on holiday in those months. We have only to spread the period a week or two each end in order greatly to increase the advantage to all, including those who must go in August and September, and to bring an enormous advantage to our holiday and seaside towns.

The towns of Morecambe and Heysham, which, among others, I have the honour to represent, have instituted illuminations which start in the third week of August and continue until the middle of October. By this device they have extended their season by about a month beyond what it used to be and have drawn some 2 million people to the town. That shows that a little thought and initiative can bring about a change in people's habits, and a very good change it is for both the people and for Morecambe. Unfortunately, towns like Grange-over-Sands, Coniston, Hawks-head, Silverdale, and many other beautiful towns in the Lake District cannot go in for illuminations. They must rely upon the beauties of their surroundings to draw the people.

I think that the case is made out for the nation giving thought to the question of how we can spread our holidays better and I would ask my hon. Friend, whom I thank for coming to the House at this late hour to listen to my remarks, whether he will consider whether an inquiry might not be instituted to go into this matter—not necessarily to have an effect this season, but a committee or working party which could collect all the information and see what influence could be brought to bear to bring about such a reform.

If every firm that did not have to close down at a particular time were, through its welfare service, to gather its people together and put to them the case for having their holidays in June and September, it would have to divert only a small percentage from August and July to effect the change I have in mind. It 1470 might become an incentive to people to try to do this, because they realised the enormous advantage. Holidays are not a luxury; they are a necessity for the health of the nation and therefore for its strength.

Finally, I wish to ask my hon. Friend whether he has any comment to make on an observation made by the Leader of the Opposition the other day that holiday towns and seaside resorts are likely to have a bad time this year. I cannot imagine any statement more discouraging to those who live and work in holiday resorts. I hope that the Leader of the Opposition is mistaken—indeed I think he is—but I should like to ask my hon. Friend whether this statement has been brought to his notice and if so, whether he has any comment to make upon it.

§ The Secretary for Overseas Trade (Mr. H. R. Mackeson)

Let me say at once that I entirely agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lonsdale (Sir I. Fraser) that holidays are now recognised by most of us as a necessity for people who are carrying a heavy burden both in agriculture and industry. The Government, I can assure him, will certainly consider his remarks very carefully, for we all know how experienced he is as a representative of one of the most lovely districts in our island. I must be careful not to refer to the question of Bank Holidays which, on an Adjournment debate, is, I believe, out of order, although it would no doubt make an interesting subject for a debate on another occasion.

My hon. Friend need have no qualms about myself or any other Minister being present tonight because he has raised what is an interesting and important subject, and one of great sociological interest to all of us. I will try in the short time available to me to deal with some of the more interesting points he put forward. I myself have made a considerable study of this subject. It is a complicated subject and one to which, I know, a great deal of thought has been given by hon. Members on both sides of the House and by employers' associations, local authorities, trade unions and many other organisations. 1471 The fact remains, however, that in spite of a considerable amount of publicity over the last few years on the desirability of avoiding the peak holiday season, to which my hon. Friend referred, there is no sign at present of a decrease in the number of people who prefer to take their holidays away from home in July and August. On the contrary, there seems to be a very slight tendency for the numbers who choose this peak holiday period to increase. About two-thirds of the adult population who take holidays now do so, as my hon. Friend said, during the peak holiday period of July and August.

I should like to make it quite clear that the Government would like to see a wider spread of the period during which people take their annual holiday. This would benefit the holiday resorts, hotels, boarding houses and holiday camps. It might, indeed, enable them to charge lower prices and thus attract a larger number of visitors and increase the number of people who take holidays. But I must make it clear that the Government do not intend to interfere with the public as to when and where they take their holiday. I am sure that that would be the wish of the majority of hon. Members. This is chiefly a matter for holidaymakers and one with which the resorts are largely concerned.

The British Travel and Holidays Association have had surveys carried out over the past two years—and I think that my hon. Friend used the same figures as are at my disposal—which indicate that the disadvantages of holidays taken during the peak period do not seem to count for very much with many people, who like to go to resorts when they are crowded with other holiday makers and when the weather is supposed to be fine. I cannot give Ministerial approval to the figures which are at my disposal, but I think that broadly speaking they are accurate. During August the average daily hours of sunshine are five, whereas in June they are slightly over six.

Admittedly, this is only a Gallup survey, but in the course of it 31 per cent. of those interviewed said that the date of their holidays was influenced by business reasons, by the holiday rota in the office 1472 or factory in which they worked, or by the fact that their works were closed down for reasons such as Wakes Week in Lancashire and other areas. My hon. Friend will be very interested in the fact that only 9 per cent. said that they were influenced by school holidays. It interested and surprised me, though I agree that it is quite possible that some of those who gave other reasons would also be indirectly influenced by the school holidays.

My hon. Friend did not refer to examinations. They have been raised often in connection with this problem, but they appear to be a comparatively small though important factor. Examination dates would be very difficult to change. In fact, they only concern about 7 per cent. of children over 11 years of age, in connection with the General Certificate of Education, in any one year. The regulations already allow two weeks' special holiday in any educational year for a child whose parents wish to take it away for a holiday with them.

The possibility of cheaper fares raises a far more difficult problem. The Transport Commission are required by law to be self-supporting and to levy such charges as will enable them to make both ends meet. At present, the Commission do not think that the introduction of reduced fares to assist the staggering of holidays in peak months would be justifiable. My hon. Friend's point that more people would, in fact, take holidays might be true, but his contention that the transport system might be earning more is at least contestable. Unless the railways could be sure that the total number of people travelling at special rates would be enough to compensate for loss of revenue in July and August on passengers paying full fare, the introduction of special holiday rates might not be a commercial proposition. The transport system has been able to move the crowds at the peak of the holiday season.

Broadly speaking, the cost of the fare when people go for a fortnight's holiday is a comparatively small portion of the total cost of the holiday. There may be exceptions; but I think we ought not to exaggerate the effect upon the holiday habits of the people which a reduction of fares might have. What we need in this complex and difficult sociological problem 1473 is the co-operation of local authorities, trade unions, industry and employers—in fact, of everyone.

I should like to make clear that this Government, and its predecessor, have had a great deal of co-operation. The B.T.H.A. have organised exhibitions at public libraries designed to persuade holiday-makers to choose off-peak periods. Seven hundred libraries have taken part, and there is a long waiting list of others. The Press has given great assistance. B.T.H.A. staff have given talks to trade councils, have organised exhibitions at mining welfare offices in mining villages, and employers and unions have shown themselves sympathetic.

This is not a political issue. Apparently the majority of people prefer to go on holiday in July and August, and tradition is not easily changed. This is a problem not only for this country. From what I have been able to learn, the views of the French population are similar to those of English people; they prefer their holidays in the peak period, regardless of the cost involved, and the crowds. There is considerable scope for resorts, such as that represented by my hon. Friend and the resort which I represent, and the constituent members of the organisations concerned in the problem of looking after holidaymakers and seeing what they can do in their own self-interest to change the public mind.

However, no reasonable person could expect the Government to spend large sums of the taxpayers' money on trying to influence the public in this matter. It would be a great advantage to areas such as the lovely Lakeland district which my hon. and gallant Friend represents, and to many of us who represent coastal constituencies, if the holiday period could be extended for, say, a fortnight. Thousands of people come to the Kentish coast, for instance, where my constituency is. I know that a great deal has been done already by the B.T.H.A., to which the Government gives support and contributes a considerable sum. I should like to say how much the Government appreciate the work of the Holiday Development Committee of that Association. I shall certainly be glad to discuss this matter with my friend, Sir Alexander Maxwell, the Chairman of the 1474 B.T.H.A., for which Board of Trade Ministers have to answer, and to discuss it with my hon Friend, and with any other interested hon. Member.

This is a matter on which we are not divided, but I am doubtful about how much a Government or Ministry should interfere and try to influence people through the expenditure of the taxpayer's money. After all, a holiday is a matter of which the individual alone can be the judge.

Over the years a number of committees have been set up to consider and investigate this problem. The first was in 1938, and a number of organisations spent a great deal of time and effort in searching for ways by which the public could be persuaded to change its holiday habits. Though I certainly do not feel that the efforts have been fruitless, I am doubtful whether a new committee or inquiry could do more than has already been done. This is primarily a matter for public and private opinion to make up its mind. I do not feel, and I do not think my colleagues feel, that the Government should intervene and try to influence unduly the decisions of the ordinary man, woman or family as to when they should go on holiday, though it would undoubtedly be of considerable advantage to us if we could get more people to go in June.

As regards my hon. Friend's concluding remarks, I have no Ministerial responsibility for this matter, but I do think the reading public and Parliament are entitled to an explanation from the "Daily Herald" newspaper. I am sorry there are no Opposition Members present in the House at this moment. After all, it is not very late. How can this newspaper, with a large national circulation, reconcile these words used on 1st January, 1953, when it was seeking advertising revenue: Daily Herald families will buy more of your products this year. Their incomes are higher than ever with its two column banner headline on 10th March, 1953: Tory axe will cut holidays? It seems to me that either industry or the reading public have been deliberately misled by this paper, and I think an explanation is obviously necessary. 1475 All I can say to my hon. Friend is that I believe that those on the Kentish coast and in his constituency and, indeed, in the country as a whole, who are prepared, anxious and willing to give the people a happy and enjoyable summer will be 1476 successful and prosperous in this year of 1953.