Families choose annual holiday in Bournemouth since 1950s

But the Griffins and the Jones families must have some tales of their own to tell – after visiting Bournemouth every summer for more than 50 years.

The Griffins, from Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, and the Joneses, from Oldham, Lancashire, started coming to the town in the 1950s and became friends when their children played together.

Now, the families meet up each August. But it seems they are not the only repeat visitors.

A survey by travelsupermarket.com found a third of travellers go back to the same spot for their annual break.

The news comes as no surprise to Jennie Deavin, managing director of The Marsham Court Hotel on the East Cliff.

“We have a huge amount of repeat business,” she said.

“At Christmas, over 70 per cent of the people we have in come every Christmas. We have groups that stay – for one of the Masonic Lodges this is their 25th year with us, but a lot of the regular visitors in the summer and at Christmas time are private bookings.

“It becomes a regulars’ club. When they come back they ask to sit next to certain people and some of them keep in touch all year.”

It’s a similar story at Bournemouth’s Ullswater Hotel.

Owner Clive Lloyd said many of the hotel’s private visitors visited three, four, or even five times a year.

Both Clive and Jennie said most of their repeat custom came from the Midlands downwards, especially London.

But just what is it that makes people return to the same destination – even the same hotel – year after year after year?

“I’ve been to lots of seaside places, but nothing like this,” June Griffin told the Echo.

“It’s the sea, the cliffs, the sand, everything about it. We absolutely love it.”

Terry Jones agreed: “We love the place, we’ve got lots of friends here and we know all the nice places to visit.”

Good food is also an incentive, according to Clive.

“As a hotel, we are near the clifftop and we are known for our food,” he said.

“We have good, home-cooked food and that’s what people like. I think, from London especially, they prefer to come here because, with fuel prices being what they are, places like Torquay are an extra two-and-a-half hours’ drive away.”

Jennie added: “If you give good value for money, people will return. You have to make sure you produce what they want and if you look after them they’ll come back.

“A lot of them that come back want to see the same staff and, because the senior staff are here a long time, it’s like a family.”

Dorset’s residents, of course, tend to venture a little further afield on their holidays.

But choosing the same destination remains a common theme.

Nicky Shafe, marketing manager for Ringwood-based Prestige Holidays, said: “We do have people that go back to the same hotels year after year, they book it as soon as they get back.

“It’s places like Cyprus, Spain and Madeira, but it’s because of the hotel mainly. It’s the staff, the number of restaurants and the location, or if there are good kids’ facilities.

“If it ticks all the boxes, people want to go back. Especially these days with so many problems with holiday companies and resorts, especially with the problems in North Africa, people are looking to play it safe at the moment and go to places that they know.”