A new survey has shown that over a fifth of UK children have never been to the British seaside.
The survey of 1,000 UK children aged between six and fifteen found that two thirds would rather go on a holiday abroad than in Britain.
More than three quarters of those polled said that they had been on a holiday abroad. A further 19 per cent said that it had been between five and 10 years since they had last visited a British beach and a quarter of those polled said that they would definitely not visit the seaside in the UK this year. The research also found that 93% of ten year-olds would prefer to go on holiday abroad more than any other age group.
41 per cent of children polled from London said that they would not be visiting a British beach this year, compared to the national average of 25 per cent. And while 34 per cent of children surveyed from London have never been to a British beach, a huge 91 per cent have been on a beach holiday abroad. A huge 90 per cent of those polled in Belfast and 86 per cent in Newcastle said they would prefer to go on holiday abroad rather than in the UK.
While 17 per cent of girls polled have never been to the British seaside on holiday, more than a quarter of boys have never done so. However, 74 per cent of girls polled said that they would prefer a beach holiday abroad than to visit the British seaside compared to 60 per cent of boys surveyed.
Sam Forrest, from THQ, who make the new Nintendo Wii game Big Beach Sports2, said: “It is a shame that so many youngsters in the UK have not visited the brilliant beaches that Britain has to offer, however for busy families, especially those living in cities away from the coastline it is tricky finding the time to get to the seaside."
July 2010
The survey was carried out to mark the launch of brand new kids’ game Big Beach Sports™2. THQ used the independent online research company SWNS which interviewed a random sample of over 1,000 UK children aged between six and 15 between 15th and 18th May 2010.
Big Beach Sports 2 is available from Amazon.co.uk | 
Canvas Holidays 2012
