A distinctive niche in the holiday market, the British took nearly 8 million coach journeys in 2000, with expenditure rising to almost £1.7 billion. No longer merely a stereotypical package for the elderly, this report looks at ways in which operators are refining their targeting of traditional customer groups to add value to their services.

Coach holidays in the UK are mainly taken by the post family consumers (over-50s) and young pre-family adults (college students). Can coach operators broaden their market beyond these groups?

Are coach operators refining their targeting to traditional consumer groups in order to increase profitability?

With the total expenditure on coach holidays rising to £1.7 billion in 2000, is there future growth for this market?

By concentrating their marketing on the two obvious customer types - post-family consumers or young pre-family adults - are operators missing other customer types? Cost often means students and young adults may travel great distances by coach, but with more frenetic and varied lifestyles and more consumer taking multiple holidays is there a way to maintain these consumers as they get older? With more discerning consumers now using coach travel as a means of booking a secondary holiday, would an increase in quality by improving coaches and hotels, develop a wider customer base? Do operators need to increase their continental offer as those born in the 50s and used to foreign travel, reach the optimum customer age for coach travel?

Whether you want an industry-focused base of information, or a complete picture of a consumer-based sector, this report provides a thorough analysis of the market and consumer views. Coach Holidays looks at Market Drivers, Market Size and Trends, Market Segmentation, The Supply Structure, Advertising and Promotion, Distribution, The Consumer and The Future concluding with a Mintel Forecast for the next five years.

Combining exclusive consumer research with key trade interviews, these reports provide an up-to-date overview of the leisure marketplace, looking at changing trends in an industry constantly developing to suit the modern consumer. Backed up by formal desk research from trade and government sources, the Leisure Intelligence series looks at each sector with a fresh impetus, underlining the importance of the entertainment factor in leisure but establishing new trends such as the sporting mix and other special interests.