Hoseasons chief executive Richard Carrick has continued his attack on outbound operators who provide optimistic forecasts to suit vested interests based on "unsubstantiated and inaccurate" data.

Carrick had earlier claimed many outbound operators had their heads in the sand and were refusing to acknowledge that the shape of the travel industry, and consumer booking trends, had changed irrevocably as a result of the recession.

Speaking at an Abta Travel Convention briefing co-hosted by Hoseasons and Visit England, Carrick returned to his theme, and insisted that a spike in domestic holiday numbers this year was not a one-off.

Citing a 31% year-on-year sales increase so far in 2009 and a 61% increase in forward bookings compared with this time last year, he claimed that UK holidays were back in vogue for a "lost generation" looking to revisit the holidays of their youth.

Visit England spokesperson Stephanie Boyle added: "There is this generation of people who are almost ashamed that they know more about foreign countries than they do about their own country."

• Hoseasons has now officially launched its Active Breaks programme. The programme will be offered at 140 of the operator's parks in association with a range of sporting bodies, and aims to give guests the opportunity to try out and improve their sporting skills.

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