Do You Book Before You Come to Cornwall, or Just Turn Up?

The car is loaded, the dogs are in the back, and you have just passed the sign welcoming you to Cornwall. One small problem. You still have not booked anywhere to stay.

For some people that thought brings on a cold sweat. For others it is the whole point of a family summer holiday. A new study from Parkdean Resorts has put numbers to the way Britain plans its time off in 2026, and the gap between the planners and the chancers is wider than you might think.

One in six don’t book at all

According to the research, one in six Brits (16%) admit they head off on a trip without booking any accommodation first. A fifth (21%) say they do not plan their travel ahead of time either.

A spontaneous third (34%) decide their plans on the day or the night before. So if you have ever watched a family pull into a Cornish car park in August and start ringing round for a room, you now know roughly how common that is.

What kind of holidaymaker are you?

Social media has turned travel habits into full personality types. The “airport dad” who arrives four hours early, the over-packer, the itinerary obsessive who colour-codes the days. The study found most of us now see ourselves in at least one of them.

These were the most common travel personalities people picked out, with respondents able to choose more than one:

• The relaxed one (44%)
• The explorer (38%)
• The leader (34%)
• The follower (26%)
• The social one (18%)
• The risk taker (15%)

Nearly half the country calls itself “the relaxed one”. The trouble starts when the relaxed one shares a cottage with the leader. The study found that 63% of Brits say their travel style does not match those of the friends and family they go away with.

Eight months to plan the perfect trip

Here is the part that gives the spontaneous third away. Asked how long they would ideally like to plan a holiday, from booking accommodation and travel to sorting an itinerary, Brits said 233 days. That is just under eight months.

The reality is rather different. A recent YouGov survey found only 37% of UK adults had booked their summer travel for this year. At the organised end, one in five (21%) plan every part of a trip in detail, right down to restaurant reservations, and the same share travel with a daily itinerary in hand.

The Parkdean report pointed holidaymakers towards Dorset, Pembrokeshire and the Lake District for a peaceful break this summer. Cornwall did not make their shortlist, which locals may have a view on.

So, the question for anyone heading down the A30 this year. Are you booked up to the last cream tea, or are you turning up and hoping for the best?