The UK holiday market is entering a period of sustained growth, as consumer confidence improves and households enjoy a boost in spending power. However, the growing popularity of the mobile channel for both holiday research and booking purposes presents a unique range of opportunities and threats for brands operating in the travel market. Tablet ownership is expected to enjoy a significant jump following Christmas 2014, accelerating the need for companies to react.

This report explores the challenges and opportunities that brands operating in the travel market will face in 2014/15, investigates the core drivers behind changes in the market and highlights some key innovations. It examines consumer research and booking behaviours, including what research sources people use, which devices they use to research and book holidays and how far in advance they begin the research process. This subject was last explored in Mintel’s Holiday Planning and Booking Process – UK, November 2013.

This report examines the behaviours and attitudes of British adults concerning how they research and book leisure holidays, both in the UK and abroad. A holiday must constitute at least one overnight stay. The business travel market is not reviewed in this report.

An adult, for the purposes of Mintel’s research, is anyone aged 16 or over.

Value figures are inclusive of VAT unless stated otherwise.

The standard travel and tourism definitions used in the terminology of this report are as follows:

• Tourism is any travel which involves at least one overnight stay away from home.

• A holiday is a subjectively defined form of tourism, as defined by the tourist in response to surveys such as the International Passenger Survey (IPS). A holiday can be distinguished from other leisure travel such as visits to friends and relatives (VFR) or shopping trips.

• Short-haul refers to destinations within Europe. The following destinations are considered to be short-haul: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus EU, Cyprus Non-EU, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Irish Republic, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Other Europe.

• Long-haul refers to destinations outside of Europe.

• The Canaries are included as a part of the Spanish market, and Madeira and the Azores are included as part of the Portuguese market.

• A pure package holiday is defined as the simultaneous sale of at least two elements of a holiday, where a customer is only provided with a total price for the purchase.

• A dynamic package holiday is defined as the sale of at least two elements of holiday, purchased simultaneously or within a 24-hour period, where the customer is able to view a breakdown of costs for each element of the holiday.

• An independent holiday is one in which the traveller organises and books transport and accommodation from separate sources, or from the same source but with purchases made more than 24 hours apart.

• The term ‘all-inclusive’ is used to describe a special type of resort holiday in which food, drink, excursions and other services are provided as part of the total holiday cost.

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