London - Couples who hope that a dream holiday will fix their broken marriage should think again. The chances are it will actually lead to more rows, a survey claims.
And for one in ten couples the “make or break” holiday will actually be the thing that prompts their divorce.
Six out of 10 couples who thought it might help them through a rough patch found that it didn’t work, according to a study of more than 2 128 married and divorced Britons.
Nearly one in five said that watching other happy couples enjoying their holiday put their own relationship under the spotlight.
Many couples felt that a chance to escape the woes of the daily grind would help them fall in love again.
But in reality, the pressure of spending time alone together turned out to be the catalyst for 15 percent of warring couples to realise they weren't in love, and the same proportion not talking to each other during the trip at all.
Forty percent felt that holidays put a strain on their relationship and 28 percent claimed they had split up with someone on holiday.
And nearly one in ten said they avoided their partner to relieve the tension, while eight percent of those surveyed even ended the holiday early.
One in twenty holidaying couples even said they used the break to discuss getting a divorce.
But it was not all negative with 36 percent saying that the holiday saved their marriage.
Amanda McAlister, head of family law at Slater & Gordon which conducted the survey, said: “One of the fundamental issues is that a holiday environment is essentially an artificial one and the problems that couples have will still be there when they return home.
“It takes more than a week in the sun to fix deep rooted problems but by taking the holiday and doing everything you can to save a marriage it means that even if a couple does decide to divorce it can often been done more amicably and without a lengthy court battle.
“This is because neither party will feel like the other hasn't tried to fix the problems and both parties will normally have come to a mutual decision on the end of the marriage.” - Daily Mail