UK travellers abandoned almost three million lilos after their holidays in 2018 rather than taking them home, according to new research.

A quarter of people admitted to leaving inflatables behind and 9% said they chucked them in the bin, in the survey of 2,000 people by holiday company Holiday Hypermarket.

With Brits taking eight million package holidays last year, Holiday Hypermarket suggested that, laid end-to-end, the leftover lilos would stretch for almost 3,300 miles – enough to cross Europe and reach Egypt’s holiday resorts on the Red Sea in the north west corner of Africa. 

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Craig Duncan, who led the research, said Brits needed to change their holiday habits to tackle the issue of plastic waste.

“We were shocked to discover how many lilos are abandoned after holidays,” he said. “Recent campaigns have raised awareness of the impact billions of bottles, straw and cigarette butts have on marine life, so now it’s time for British holidaymakers to think about the waste of using a lilo for just one holiday.”

Duncan said during the research the company spoke to hotel staff, who described lilos as an awful problem that’s getting worse, “When a holidaymaker leaves a lilo behind hotels have little choice but to store them or send them to the local landfill,” he added.