16 April 2026
An AA survey of 13,631 drivers shows the vast majority plan to stick to their holiday routines despite the Middle East conflict and soaring pump prices.
The ‘stay calm and carry on’ attitude of most is reflected in new official domestic travel statistics that show car travel during the Iran war is down only marginally compared to the same period last year. However, business travel has suffered.
Summer holidays
The survey of this year’s holiday plans, polled between 13 and 19 March and a fortnight into the war when oil had rocketed to $115 a barrel, reveals that the 10% who took all their holidays abroad last year is down to 9%.
The 31% who took their main holiday abroad last year but also took some short break or day trips in the UK are up to 33%.
For those who took all their holidays and short breaks in the UK last year, their ranks have swelled from 34% to 35%.
And the stay-at-home group has shrunk from 22% to 19%.
The standout group for going abroad this year are the 18 to 24 year olds, with 48% intending to take their main holiday outside the UK as opposed to the 38% who did so last year.
“These new travel statistics show once again that car travel is a necessity not a luxury, even with huge pump-price hikes”
Domestic road travel
New Department for Transport statistics*, that compare UK travel by transport mode with a baseline set before the covid epidemic, show that car travel has barely been impacted by surging pump prices.
Comparing UK domestic travel in the March to mid-April period of the Iran war so far with that a year ago, car travel is down from 98.2% (of pre-covid car use) to 97.4%.
Year on year for this period, motoring traffic in general is down from 104% to 102.6%.
This bigger reduction is due to travel by Light Goods Vehicles (delivery vans, etc) falling from 126.7% to 123.9% and HGV use dropping from 107.9% to 105.8%.
This year’s Easter bank holiday period (3-6 April) has been excluded from the calculations as Easter occurred later last year (18-21 April).
Petrol is currently around 24p a litre higher than a year ago while diesel at the pump costs on average 50p a litre more (15 April 2026: petrol 159.0p a litre, diesel 192.3p versus 14 April 2025: petrol 135.3p a litre, diesel 142.0p).
Recent AA research revealed that consumer confidence in what they spend on motoring had finally emerged from the doldrums of covid and Ukraine war inflation, with overall spending on cars in 2025 being £649 million lower than in 2024. That improved confidence manifested itself in £4.3 billion more being spent on the purchase of new and used cars last year compared to the year previously. These consumer spending statistics were released by ONS at the end of March.
“These new travel statistics show once again that car travel is a necessity not a luxury, even with huge pump-price hikes. Somehow, motorists find a way to stay on the road and drive to work or do the family journeys that can’t be done on foot,” says Jack Cousens, the AA’s head of roads policy.
“Decades marked by dramatic pump price swings, starting in 2007 and 2008, have taught UK drivers how to reallocate their finances to compensate. For many, that may mean cutting back elsewhere such as nights-out, leisure and entertainment, or even their food shopping.
“The tragedy of the past six weeks, from a motoring consumer’s point of view, is that last year seemed to turn the corner on rampant inflation from post-covid supply disruptions and road fuel price hikes. That hope has been dashed.
“Yet there remains optimism that a good summer of holidays and day trips is still possible. The resilience of the UK driver continues to amaze.”
*Daily domestic transport use by mode - GOV.UK
Daily usage of transport by mode: Great Britain, since 1 March 2020 This spreadsheet presents daily domestic transport usage data, as a percentage of pre-COVID-19 baseline; baselines used vary between modes. These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.