What you need to know
Consumers are feeling relatively confident despite political unrest, terrorist attacks and air traffic controller strikes overseas. Both domestic and overseas holidays grew in 2015, and low airfares should lead to a good year going forward.
As expected, most holiday research and booking is done online (64%). Some 23% of holidaymakers carry out travel research on a mobile – ie a smartphone or tablet. Overall, research on mobiles is skewed in favour of those who took a short break (one to three nights); some 27% used a mobile device to research their holiday compared to 22% of those who went on a long holiday (four or more nights).
Holiday bookings on smartphones have also increased, rising 3 percentage points from 5% to 8% between March 2015 and April 2016. Overall, mobile bookings (ie those done on a smartphone or a tablet) rose 3 percentage points from 13% to 16% in the same time period.
Over the next few years, smartphone bookings should grow. Mintel data shows that some 17% of 16-34s booked their last holiday on a smartphone compared to an 8% average. Smartphone bookings are practically non-existent among over-45s – just 1% booked their last holiday on one. In addition, research and booking on internet-enabled smart TVs should increase as more brands release TV apps.
Scope of the Report
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.
