What Brits ‘really’ want to do on holiday

What makes Brits feel the most insecure – is it in-person bragging or social media?

The study analysed what effect bragging and boasting have on people’s opinion of their holidays.

We asked respondents whether they felt their holidays and activities were inadequate to others on social media. Overall, nearly a third (31%) of men and women admitted to feeling like their holiday activities were inadequate. Men scored higher on this question with 31% admitting to feeling like this compared to 22% of females.

Social media, unfortunately, plays a big part in young people’s insecurities, so it comes as no surprise that those aged 25-34 admit to being the most insecure with more than half (52%) admitting this. In contrast, those aged 16-24 scored lower with just over two-fifths (43%) of respondents feeling insecure, although this could be down to this age group feeling less financial pressure against their peers.

In-person boasting makes Brits feel just as insecure

Although social media plays a part in people feeling insecure, boasting in person also contributes to insecurities. I think we can all agree, we hear and know more about other people's holidays than our own, so much so that holiday boasting could be banned.

Our study revealed that over a quarter (27%) of men and women admit to feeling like their holiday and activities were inadequate to people’s they knew in real life. Men feel more insecure than women with 31% of men admitting they feel this way compared to 22% of women.

Those aged 25-34 came out on top with nearly half (47%) feeling insecure about their holiday activities.

Holiday activities and destinations that are picked purely to show off

We’ve already uncovered which activities are the most desirable as well as the motivations behind participating in them. However, we also want to find out whether people pick their destinations and activities to show off or make others jealous.

A whopping one in five (21%) Brits admit to making their holiday activities look better through social media or in-person, and men are the bigger show offs with 24% confessing to this in comparison to 19% of women. Those from Bristol scored highest with 28% admitting to making their holiday activities seem better than what they were, and London came in a close second with 27%. Whereas those from Brighton are the least likely to boast about their holiday with just 4% declaring they do this.

But which activities are deemed the most envious? Dune driving and jet skiing are the top activities chosen to make others jealous with 18% of respondents choosing it to show off. While going to the gym and skiing came in last with only 8% of Brits feeling the need to brag about these activities.

As for destinations, 15% of men and women admitted to choosing a holiday destination to look good to both people they know and on social media. Again, men are most likely to do this with one in five (19%) admitting to being guilty of this than women (12%). However, the number of Brits who show off is in the minority with 99.60% saying they would not show off. So, if you’re wondering which city are the biggest show-offs overall, it was Manchester with 21% admitting to this. The humblest city is Brighton with just 1% admitting to showing off.

Region most likely to post on Social media to show off

Most pretentious holiday locations

Finally, our study explored whether Brits found any holiday destinations pretentious from a list of 47 popular holiday destinations which included New York, The Maldives, and Egypt. Dubai came out on top with 22% disclosing they find this location flashy, and women scored higher (27%) with this location than men (18%).

The Maldives came up next with 17% of men and women admitting to finding this location pretentious, while Las Vegas came in third (14%). Stockholm was deemed the least extravagant with only 2% stating the Swedish town as an extravagant holiday destination and one-third (31%) of respondents did not find any of the holiday locations pretentious.