Fancy an English Riviera Sportcation?

20th January, 2024

Marketing people do truly dreadful things to the language and in the case of the holiday industry seem intent on crashing words together to come up with something that reflects current trends. In the Covid era we had "staycations" followed in the post covid era by "workcations" where people newly liberated from the need to actually go into the office could up sticks and go on holiday but put a few hours work in at the same time.

The experts have now identified a new trend the "sportcation". These are holidays that revolve around activities that are very often water based or based on the shoreline. As if the word "sportcation" is not painful enough they have added "relactive getaways" to the mix - these are holidays where you relax by being active.

Some words gain traction as they do genuinely reflect and describe something that is happening at a particular time. Others will thankfully sink without trace. Some other holiday trends to look out for include the following. Firstly "boomerang holidays" - disappointingly these are not holidays during which you spend the entire time honing your skill with the deadly Australian weapon. Rather, they are holidays in which parents are joined by their adult children. This is either a wonderful reflection of the strength of families or a very depressing reflection of gen z and their inability to cut apron strings. There are also "solomoons" where travellers go away on their own.