Do we still like to be beside the seaside or has the traditional coastal holiday declined in popularity?
Tourism experts say there has been a changing tide in visiting habits, with more people opting for day trips and shorter breaks rather than a main stay like in years gone by.
The traditional British seaside holiday first became popular in the 1950s and 1960s and has seen several decades of changes since, with challenges including the rising popularity of city breaks and cheaper flights for holidays abroad.
So what does a trip to the seaside look like in 2025?
Hotels and guesthouses in the Lincolnshire resorts of Skegness and Mablethorpe say they are seeing more day trippers and fewer people staying over.
Carrie Shields, of Beachlands Guest House in Skegness, says this summer business for them has been “absolutely dire”.
“It’s very, very quiet for us,” she says. “There are a lot of day trippers but no one is stopping.”
She puts the reason down to the seaside needing to be “brought into this day and age” including “different things in arcades so people are entertained more”.
Debbie Dodds, owner of Park View Guest House in Mablethorpe, says she has noticed people are not staying for as long.
“The economic climate. People are not flushed these days. They haven’t the cash in their pockets,” she explains.
Debbie feels another possible reason is the cost of overseas holidays.
“You can hop on a plane for very little these days.”
Marina Novelli, a professor of marketing and tourism at the University of Nottingham, believes the UK seaside holiday is not a dying tradition, but it has been evolving.
She says traditional seaside towns have seen a “modest decline in domestic overnight trips”, with day trips increasing at the same time.
Angela Hill, owner of Mayvene Guest House in Skegness, says people “can’t afford to stay” as seaside buys, even the price of ice creams, have gone up in price.
Not far from Mayvene is Butlin’s, which opened in 1936 and is part of a large seaside resort chain. Although the company reports holidays to its site are still “very much alive and well” it adds it has also seen a “growing number of guests visiting with a day pass”.
By looking at results from the Great British Tourism Survey 2024, Visit England found that there had been 11.1 million domestic overnight trips to the seaside and coast in 2024, compared to 12.5 million in 2023.
It also found that total spending on these trips in 2024 was £3.5bn, down 4% on 2023 and 10% on 2022.
Mary Powell, place and investment manager at Lincolnshire County Council, says “shorter breaks and day trips are becoming a lot more common” when resorts nationally would expect visitors to stay for a week or two in the summer.
Hulton Archive via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, in the East Yorkshire seaside town of Bridlington, Laura Barrass, shift manager at Fish & Chips At 149, takes a moment in between serving hungry customers to say they “do get a lot of people coming for day trips”.
And although habits may be changing, Laura feels the seaside still retains the charm it has always had.
“I think it’s just something a bit different,” she says.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council says Bridlington and Hornsea “remain vibrant seaside destinations” and that a “balance of day visitors and those staying in hotels or caravans remains consistent”.
It cited economic challenges such as rising costs and seasonality, but added that “businesses are optimistic with 56% confident in future trading”, according to the National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA) Business Survey 2025.
Across the Humber Bridge in Cleethorpes, Jamie Dawson, sales assistant at Sweet Indulgence, says people still like the old traditions, such as visiting sweet shops.
“The seaside still has that old charm and people enjoy visiting,” she says.
On a sunny Wednesday in Skegness, we asked holidaymakers what kept them drawn to staycations at the seaside.
David Bromley, 26, from Northampton, who was staying for five days, says it was “hard to compete with seaside doughnuts” and that he enjoys seaside holidays as “the arcades are good and I like crazy golf”.
Anita Metcalfe, 63, from Sheffield, has been coming to Skegness for the past 36 years and has her own caravan.
She says she often comes for weekends and that it was an “escapism from everyday life”.
“You wouldn’t get me jumping on a plane because I don’t like heights,” she adds.
Although the seaside retains its appeal to these holidaymakers, they say they can see why there has been a shift in visiting habits generally.
Mark Knowles, 44, from Chesterfield, who was enjoying the view on Skegness Pier, puts it down to “everything going up in cost”, while his fiancée, Andrea Butler, 51, thinks people “haven’t got the money in their pockets”.
Despite the challenges, Mark adds: “I think our generation were brought up with going to the seaside, it’s what we’ve always done.”
