Is Recession that Bad

I wonder are things really that bad here when you learn of the thousands of Irish who are on holidays all over Europe and some are stranded. There must still be plenty of cash around which is good to know.

It may be credit cards rather than cash that people are using to pay for the holiday., or they may ahve booked it some time ago.

So because some people are going on holidays things can't be that bad...?

The reality is that if you haven't lost your job, then whilst you may have taken a direct or indirect paycut(ie wages cut and the levys), then that is partially offset by the decline in prices in the country. Hence, for many people, the recession has not had a major day to day impact on their cashflow. People may be more cautious and looking for a bargain, but it doesn't mean to say that a lot of people don't have the money to travel.

If the volcano had erupted 4 years ago though, you would have had more people stranded in more exotic locations then now

Not everyone is away on holiday.

Most of the people met on our journey back through Europe were abroad because of work, medical reasons or exchange language trips. We only met one retired couple on holiday.

Many a credit card is getting hammered on hotels, rail fares and eye watering taxi bills. Not looking forward to our next credit card statement!

Mpsox said:

People may be more cautious and looking for a bargain, but it doesn't mean to say that a lot of people don't have the money to travel.

Click to expand...

+1
We are going on holidays early this year and picked the location that had cheapest flights as we were not fussy where we went.
We got 4 flights for €277 including bags, and hotel was cheap because it was off season.

2 flights + (fairly) fancy private accomodation for 2 weeks in peak season for under €1000. Was pretty pleased with myself about that one.

The figures quoted are 30,000 Irish stranded abroad, out of a pop of 5,000,000.

I make that just over 0.5% of the population.

HArdly like the whole country's going mad on holidays and weekends away, is it?

One thing about a recession is that it focusses the mind e.g. people now think before they spend. A holiday abroad this time of year is fairly cheap. Just a few weeks ago I purchased a Ryanair flight for around €60 return. I rented an apartment for €300 for the week. My wife and I had a holiday for less than €450 + whatever we ate and drank.

On the other hand would Budget Travel have gone under if there was not a recession?

At last, people are more discerning where they will spend their bucks.