Table of Contents
Executive Summary
-
- The market
- Overseas market growing at pace
-
- Figure 1: Forecast of overseas holiday market volume, 2010-20
- Domestic market rebounds in 2015
-
- Figure 2: Forecast of domestic holiday market volume, 2010-20
- The consumer
- Nearly a quarter of travellers do holiday research using a mobile
-
- Figure 3: Research sources used, April 2016^
- Google remarketing tools can help reach holidaymakers
-
- Figure 4: Online research sources, April 2016
- Mobile bookings on an upward trend
-
- Figure 5: Device used to book most recent holiday, March 2015 and April 2016
- Direct hotel bookings and online travel agent bookings increase
-
- Figure 6: Online booking method, March 2015 and April 2016
- B2C social media messaging services can revolutionise interaction
-
- Figure 7: Attitudes towards holiday planning and booking, April 2016
- Allowing consumers to get more involved through 360º video
-
- Figure 8: Holiday planning and booking behaviours, April 2016
- What we think
Issues and Insights
-
- Increasing mobile use in the research process
- The facts
- The implications
- Mobile bookings are on an upward trend
- The facts
- The implications
- Using immersive video in the research process
- The facts
- The implications
- Smart TV apps proving relatively popular at this early stage
The Market – What You Need to Know
-
- Consumers are returning overseas
- Domestic holidays rebound after a poor 2014
- Consumer confidence to improve if Britain votes to stay in the EU
Market Outlook
-
- Small increase in total holiday volume going towards 2020
-
- Figure 9: Estimated total holiday market volume and value, 2010-20
-
- Figure 10: Forecast of total holiday market volume, 2010-20
- Figure 11: Forecast of total holiday market value*, 2010-20
- Strong overseas growth as consumers return overseas
-
- Figure 12: Overseas holiday market volume and value*, 2010-20
-
- Figure 13: Forecast of overseas holiday market volume, 2010-20
- Figure 14: Forecast of overseas holiday market value, 2010-20
- Domestic trips return to growth in 2015
-
- Figure 15: Estimated domestic holiday market volume and value*, 2010-20
- Figure 16: Forecast of domestic holiday market volume, 2010-20
- Figure 17: Forecast of domestic holiday market value*, 2010-20
Market Drivers
-
- UK economic growth slows but wages increase
- Winter months are key times for bookings
-
- Figure 19: Percentage of consumers who plan to book a holiday in the next three months, by month, April 2015-April 2016
- Portugal’s Algarve offers the best value, while Cape Town is the cheapest long-haul destination
-
- Figure 20: Post Office Worldwide Cost Barometer 2016
- Low oil prices could help spark a price war amongst airlines
-
- Figure 21: Brent Crude Spot Oil Price (US$ per barrel), May 2012-May 2016
- Cuts in duty for long-haul passengers and youths
-
- Figure 22: Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates, April 2012-April 2016*
- New Package Travel Directive
Launch Activity and Innovation
-
- Google develops ‘Book on Google’ feature for hotels
- Google launches Destinations for mobile
-
- Figure 23: Google Destinations, March 2016
- Wherefor’s ‘budget before destination’ booking model
-
- Figure 24: Wherefor website screen shot, April 2013
- Smart TV apps and the booking process
-
- Figure 25: Airbnb’s Apple TV app
- Figure 26: Thomson’s smart TV app, April 2015
- Virtual reality here to stay
- YouTube and Facebook branching out with 360º videos
- Hopper predicts fares and notifies travellers of price drops
-
- Figure 27: Price-predicting smartphone app Hopper
- Hoteliers enable easier communication between guest and hotel
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines partners with Facebook Messenger
-
- Figure 28: KLM Royal Dutch Airways in the Facebook Messenger app
The Consumer – What You Need to Know
-
- Nearly a quarter do research on a mobile
- Google remarketing tools are important for targeting holidaymakers
- Women are more likely to use customer review sites
- Offline bookings most common amongst seniors
- Bookings on smartphones increase year on year
- Smartphone bookings most popular for European short breaks
- Direct bookings with hotels rise year on year…
- …as do bookings with online travel agents.
- B2C social media messaging can deliver more efficient customer service
- Holidaymakers keen on travel planning services based on their data
- Destination marketing to 25-34s via 360º online video streaming
Holiday Research and Planning
-
- A third of holidaymakers now research offline
-
- Figure 29: Research sources used, April 2016^
- Seniors least likely to research their holiday
- Millennials most likely to research offline and use travel agents
- Beacons can help increase smartphone use in the customer journey
-
- Figure 30: A beacon transmits to smartphones in its vicinity
- Short breakers tend to use mobile devices more for research
-
- Figure 31: Booking lead time, by length and destination of holidays taken in the last 12 months, April 2016
- An all-in-one Google planning and booking platform could reduce the number of research sources used
-
- Figure 32: Repertoire of research sources used, April 2016
- Travel agents can offer expertise to travellers venturing further afield
-
- Figure 33: Research sources used, by different holiday types, April 2016
Online Research Sources
-
- Search engine and review sites most popular online research sources
-
- Figure 34: Online research sources, April 2016
- Customer review sites highlight the importance of peer influentials
-
- Figure 35: Those who read reviews on a customer review site, by household income, April 2016
- Price comparison sites favoured by affluent consumers
-
- Figure 36: Price comparison site usage, by household income, April 2016
-
- Figure 37: Price comparison site usage, by socio-economic group, April 2016
- Political turmoil calls for travel insurance
-
- Figure 38: Online research sources, by length and destination of holidays taken in the last 12 months, April 2016
Holiday Booking
-
- Under a fifth of holidaymakers book offline
- Making it easy to book in-store
-
- Figure 39: Device used to book most recent holiday, March 2015 and April 2016*
- Mobile bookings on an upward trend
- Mobile bookings much more common for European short breaks
-
- Figure 40: Device used to book most recent holiday, by length and destination of holidays taken in the last 12 months, April 2016
Online Bookings
-
- Both direct bookings for accommodation providers and online travel agent usage increase
- Tour operators take a hit following political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East
-
- Figure 41: Online booking method, March 2015 and April 2016
-
- Figure 42: Online booking method, by length and destination of holidays taken in the last 12 months, April 2016
Holiday Planning and Booking Attitudes
-
- Young women are hungry for new destinations
-
- Figure 43: Attitudes towards holiday planning and booking, April 2016
- Travel agents can present themselves as time savers, but many see them as outdated
- Most people open to receiving customised travel itineraries from brands
Holiday Planning and Booking Behaviours
-
- Young men most keen on streaming travel videos
-
- Figure 44: Holiday planning and booking behaviours, April 2016
- Live streaming video services can add an element of reality and authenticity
- 360º video gives a more in-depth experience
- A quarter of 25-34s have booked via a smart TV app
- Peer-to-peer accommodation usage still relatively low among UK consumers
CHAID Analysis
-
- Methodology
- Travel agents can leverage live chat messaging to serve holidaymakers
-
- Figure 45: Target groups based on attitudes towards contacts with travel brands – CHAID – Tree output, April 2016
-
- Figure 46: Target groups based on attitudes towards contacts with travel brands – CHAID – Table output, April 2016
Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations, and Supporting Information
-
- Abbreviations
- Definitions
- Forecast Methodology
-
- Figure 47: Best- and worst-case forecast for total holiday volume, 2015-20
- Figure 48: Best- and worst-case forecast for total holiday value*, 2015-20
- Figure 49: Best- and worst-case forecast for overseas holiday volume, 2015-20
-
- Figure 50: Best- and worst-case forecast for overseas holiday value*, 2015-20
- Figure 51: Best- and worst-case forecast for domestic holiday volume, 2015-20
- Figure 52: Best- and worst-case forecast for domestic holiday value*, 2015-20
Back to top