It may all seem pretty dark and gloomy at the moment, but we’ve got some good news for you Yorkshire folk, at long last! A special UK bank holiday weekend has been proposed for October this year, with the hopes that it will help boost half-term tourism. Whether you were planning on getting away as a family this summer, or jumping in a beer garden with mates, the possibility is enough to pique my interest right now.
While Downing Street is currently toying with the idea, adding this bank holiday could incur significant costs to the wider economy, Number 10 stated. The idea was floated and submitted by Visit Britain‘s acting chief executive Patricia Yates.
The government has estimated that a bank holiday costs the British economy just over £2 billion, but, the tourism chief said: “The idea that we could possibly have a bank holiday in October, because the industry has lost the benefit of the two May bank holidays. I think that’s an idea that’s being considered, to have an October bank holiday around half term.
Continuing: “Because what we’re going to need to do is not just generate people in July and August but really extend the season this year for the domestic market.”
The government has said that it will ‘respond to that in due course’ to the request, however, after British tourism has taken a huge hit over the past few months, it seems like extending the tourism period with an extra UK bank holiday this October could potentially help the sector by giving it much-needed visitors after what could be months of struggle.
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