Funemployed glampers could boost recession-hit travel firms

Popular spot: luxury camping is on the increase. Photograph: Ryan McVay/Lifesize/Getty

ALISON HEALY

MONEY-SAVING TRENDS: THE RECESSION could offer a boost to a travel industry willing to embrace the “funemployed”, tourism providers have been told.

The concept of the funemployed was outlined by Thalia Pellegrini, presenter of the BBC’s Fast:track travel programme, at Fáilte Ireland’s national tourism conference in Dublin. She said the term was coined to describe recently unemployed people who are using their free time to travel.

“This group is tempted by unprecedented travel deals and have a now-or-never attitude towards travelling,” she said. “Most have severance packages to cushion the blow, and more than half of those unemployed in North America are under the age of 35, mainly single, without children or a mortgage.”

Since last year one company, Intrepid Travel, has been offering a 15 per cent discount to travellers who have been laid off. Pellegrini said marketing to the funemployed off season may increase year-round occupancy.

She pointed to other innovations, too, such as the pay-what-you-want model, where auction sites encourage you to bid for hotel rooms, and the pop-up hotel – prebuilt units incorporated into a steel frame that can easily be demolished.

“One example of this brand is M-house and M-hotel. The hotel structure consists of individual units included in a steel construction building, tailored towards corporate customers for rent up to three months. The first unit will be in Hoxton, in east London, and is due to open before the end of the year.”

Pellegrini said there was also a strong interest in home exchanges, nights away and camping. “Or the increasingly popular ‘glamping’ – luxury camping for those keen on the idea of camping but not on the reality of sleeping on the ground.”

She said households were cutting their spending in areas such as clothing, house moves and car upgrades. “But people want their holiday. It may be a watered-down version of what they’re used to – a drop in hotel star, or a budget airline, or maybe self-catering to save that little extra – but they want their holiday.”