March 2020
Amongst the worry and concern about the Coronavirus outbreak, there is one Bournemouth based small business that can see a positive outlook. Bournecoast Holiday Agents, a family run holiday letting agency based in Southbourne since 1960, are predicting an increase in holiday letting bookings once the Coronavirus outbreak settles down.
Des Simmons, Bournecoast’s Managing Director, said “We are taking the Coronavirus outbreak very seriously and the safety and security of our employees, holiday visitors, tenants and landlords is our priority. Alongside our current action plans to reduce the impact of any short term lockdown and to ensure all of our clients are able to continue to use our services safely we also have a team looking at the longer term outlook. The good news is that we are predicting a rise in self-catering staycations once the outbreak has passed.”
He continues, “The reason we are predicting such a rise in people booking self-catering properties within the UK is because of the ongoing concern about international travel, exacerbated by the recent collapse of Flybe, and the fact that visitors will be keen to enjoy private self-catering holiday accommodation away from the risks associated with large communal areas within hotels.”
Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch are tourist destinations which rely on tourism. With over 11 million visitors per year and over 750 self-catering units, tourism contributes over £950,000,000 to the local economy. Whilst there may be an impact on the number of bookings and cancellations as any control measures are implemented, after this the area should benefit from an increase in UK national travel. This may well be enhanced further should the UK Government issue an official recommendation for UK residents to take their holidays within their own country this year, as the Italian Government has recently done.
Self-catering accommodation which is available for short-term lettings for more than 140 days in any given year, is subject to Business Rate property tax. This could also be good news as the chancellor Rishi Sunak is to abolish business rates for small businesses to help the economy get through the coronavirus crisis. In his first Budget, Sunak also promised a £3,000 cash grant per business that is currently eligible for the small business rates relief.
Bournecoast Holiday Agents manage over 200 properties, the majority of which are let on a holiday let and winter let basis throughout Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. Most of the properties are advertised on the Bournecoast, Airbnb, Holiday Lettings, TripAdvisor, HomeAway and Owners Direct websites giving them very large exposure to potential holiday visitors which results in them confirming approximately 35,000 tourist nights each year.
For further information please call one of the Bournecoast team on 01202 437888, email the team or see the property owner section of their website.