What’s Going On Here?
New research has found that stag and hen dos account for a huge proportion of flights for young people in the UK!
What Does This Mean?
Research carried out by the environmental charity Hubbub that surveyed of 2,000 people found that half of all flights taken by men aged 20-45 were for stag-dos, and a third for women of the same age were for hen-dos.
Hubbub partnered with Carbon Credit Capital to help quantify these emissions and relate them to everyday life. They found that if a group of 10 people chose Brighton over Barcelona they would reduce their carbon emissions by 98%, equivalent to one person in the group stopping driving for 1.4 years or going vegan for 2.2 years!
Why Should We Care?
We’ve already written about how getting on a plane is one of the most carbon intensive things you can do and Brits are known to fly more than any other nation, and the aviation industry is set to be the UK’s biggest emitter by 2050. Does this really align with the urgency to meet net zero? With stag and hen events accounting for such a large proportion of flights for people in this age group it is clearly an important area to address.
We get it. You will (hopefully) only have one stag/hen do in your lifetime and you want it to be special, so this isn’t meant to be a guilt trip (excuse the pun). But there are great options that don’t mean getting on a plane; most people surveyed agreed that there were good destinations in the UK, and all that really mattered was spending time with friends and trying something new. Research also found that stag-dos were on average £160 more expensive when travelling abroad, and 60% of people would prefer a UK based stag/hen-do due to cost and ease of location. So maybe there are additional benefits to staying on the ground!
Be Curious!
- Check out Hubbub’s #WhyWingit campaign launched in response to this data.
- Also check out Hubbub’s excellent tips for a flight free hen/stag do.
- If you can’t avoid flying, check out our article on carbon offsetting for advice on doing this effectively.
