Programmes like ITV's Holiday Reps, filmed in the Greek resort of Faliraki, have done little for the image of the young Brit abroad. The typical traveller comes across as a curiously single-minded creature, intent on the pursuit of pure pleasure: by day generally placid, content to chill out on the beach and nurture nascent melanoma; by night, however, a voracious predator, prowling the streets for cheap drugs, easy sex, and lots and lots of booze. Here is a party animal impervious to local culture and customs. Guide books are left at home, local languages shunned, international relations jeopardised.

The results of a recent Foreign Office study of young British holidaymakers do not exactly demolish this stereotype. But neither do they reveal the unambiguous profile that many in Middle England might expect. The study, entitled ‘Project Holiday', looked at the attitudes and motivations of 1000 holidaymakers, aged 16-30, drawn from all parts of the UK.

Uncontroversially, 76% of respondents said that one of their main reasons for going on holiday was to relax and chill out; 35% saw holidays as an opportunity to visit cultural and historic sites; while 15% had sex on their minds. Intriguingly, holidaymakers from the West Midlands departed noticeably from the norm. For them, sex (29%) was far more important than history (15%).

Given the stereotypical immaturity of this demographic group, it may be surprising to learn that 72% of respondents said that they arranged travel insurance before going abroad, although the West Midlanders, once again, stood out (37%). Alarmingly, however, the survey revealed that one in ten people from Scotland and the Northeast had been arrested on holiday; while 9% of all respondents claimed that they'd been given a spiked drink.

The survey did expose a hardcore group of revellers for whom holidays are synonymous with excess. Most channel their energies into excessive drinking (75%), casual sex (28%) and drug taking (8%). But overall, this group was in the minority (35%). Far more respondents (62%) emphasised the importance of experiencing new cultures and meeting different types of people.