Blue Monday is upon us next week. What is Blue Monday? The Wikipedia entry describes it as the most depressing day of the year. Interestingly it is apparently the invention of the Sky Travel in the UK as part of an Ad campaign. I mention Blue Monday as it was a talking point as I drove to work listening to Greatest Hits Radio. This would not normally be my choice of station but is what was playing on my hire car radio when I switched it on post New Year. According to the Wikipedia article there is a mathematical relationship used to justify the contention that is the most depressing day. However, closer analysis of the equation leads to the conclusion that the underlying maths is meaningless. The concept is a PR stunt that has entered into the pseudo cultural calendar (certainly that of radio).

Dr Antonis Kousoulis from the Mental Health Foundation wrote a very good blogpost on this two years ago. Challenging mental health issues being exploited by commercial is a real issue. Persuading people to book holidays in early January just after the most expensive time of the year for most families is a good business plan for a travel agent. Saddling yourself with debt by booking that dream holiday before you have paid the credit card bill at the end of January for the Christmas just past is not good in my opinion for longterm wellbeing. According to the BBC website today travel industry sources have said that demand is high with bookings surging. The average spend is apparently £3,104 which up by 5% on 2022. Hays Travel are saying that bookings have increased five fold compared to last year, while Virgin Atlantic sales are up 75%. The cost of living crisis has not stopped people deciding to holiday since the Covid restrictions no longer apply and basically they are feeling that cultural pressure that persuades them that a good holiday is good for mental health. Deal with the debt depression afterwards.

The travel industry itself would appear to be in a lag phase of growth as it has not yet recovered from the pandemic slowdown. There is no guarantee that exporting your money in the form of a foreign holiday will be a stress free investment in increasing your happiness quotient. Staffing levels within the travel industry are still at pandemic levels as the money has not been spent in the previous season to encourage travel companies to gamble on training and supplying adequate transport and support services. So be prepared for delays and frustration before you even arrive at the resort which may have it’s own investment issues.  The surge in bookings is taking people to primarily Spain and Greece. Both countries that have experienced the financial shock of the pandemic. That Great British phrase “I could do with another to get over the last” will be doing the rounds in September.