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Credit Crunch hits gap year travelers as trips shrink by half

By Andrew Redfern @ 19th August 2008 10:26 am

The well travelled gap year has become the gap half year as the credit crunch impacts upon the student travel market – that’s the verdict of a new nationwide poll revealing that money worries are now the key concern for British students when planning Gap Year travels.

2,000 students and post graduates were surveyed for the study which was specially commissioned by the world’s leading global social media network Bebo to celebrate their online reality adventure series The Gap Year www.bebo.com/thegapyear.

The findings reveal that among both recently returned and imminent gap year travellers, available funds are the key factor (64 per cent) in planning any trip. More than half of those surveyed (52 per cent) were also worried about being in personal debt upon their return given the current economic climate; while four in ten respondents admitted that the employment market was a key factor in shortening their trips.

As these concerns combine, itineraries are now being carved back from 12 to as few as just three months on the open road. More than two thirds (63 per cent) of those questioned were planning a maximum journey of six months away from home, with a mere 14 per cent planning a full year abroad.

Bebo’s The Gap Year study also revealed a rise in the age of gap year travellers, with a significantly older set jetting off than once was the case. The average age of departure is now 23, with a third of travellers leaving aged 21-24 (32 per cent), many having completed degrees and choosing to travel before entering the world of work. A growing proportion of 25-29 year olds (16 per cent) are also now choosing take a gap year when older and wiser. 52 per cent of travellers were also convinced that taking a gap year is a sensible investment in their future, believing their travels would only improve their employability upon return.

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