An extensive investigation a travel sector considered niche but still worth an estimated £2 billion, 'Group Travel - UK, 2003 is as relevant to established operators as it is to travel companies or investors looking to gain an expert's understanding of a growing market. Offering you expert insight into:

How group travel specialists are meeting the needs of the 21st Century British traveller

The failings of the major AITs in this sector

The fragmentation and polarisation in the group travel industry and the vital importance of school trips

Group travel as part of holidays taken by Britons

The risk of falling demand - the negative impact of poor publicity and the steps taken by the industry to strengthen safety guidelines

A complex and diversified supply structure

Key opportunities in the group travel market, including the impact of low-cost airlines, short breaks and the implications on the industry of a growing interest in independent holidays

The need for operators to integrate customised interest or subject-themed tours and activities with conventional flight-and-accommodation

An increase in bookings made by group travellers over the Internet

Key customer target groups and their attitudes to group travel

There is no official or trade definition of group travel or a group holiday, but the products in the marketplace suggest that the travel trade attaches a different definition to the travelling consumer. For the trade, ‘a group’ is typically defined as either ten or 12 adults travelling together under one booking, the purpose of the definition being to offer a discount, usually in the form of one free passenger (free place).

While the travel trade mainly treats group travel as a discounting mechanism, the consumer's motivation to travel in a group does not usually come from the discount. Group travel is usually chosen for specific reasons related to the holiday or other leisure activity, of which the following are considered by Mintel to be the most important:

- school tours

- student groups, including part-holiday part-study trips

- touring by car, coach or caravan

- cruises

- sports teams on tour

- activity and cultural holidays, eg walking tours, climbing expeditions

- religious groups.

Mintel defines group travel as five or more consumers travelling together under a single booking. Specialist business group travel including meetings, conventions and incentive programmes will not be examined in this report. Written by industry experts for industry professionals, Mintel's latest report offers you a new perspective of:

Market factors/ Market size and trends/ Market segmentation/ The supply structure/ Consumer trends/ Consumer attitudes and typologies/ The future/ Sales forecast