More than two out of three overseas bookings this summer were made online, exclusive research for Travel Weekly suggests.
Two thirds of holidays this summer booked wholly online
More than two out of three overseas bookings this summer were made online, exclusive research for Travel Weekly suggests.
A survey of 500 holidaymakers by Explore Research found 68% said they booked their main overseas holiday “wholly online”.
Just 11% said they booked wholly face to face with a travel agent, 10% did so online and by phone, and 4% wholly over the phone. The remaining bookings were split between phone and face to face; online and face to face; and a mix of all three. Two per cent of respondents were unclear.
Explore also asked what sort of booking people made. Two out of five (40%) said they booked a package holiday, 32% booked separate flights ?and accommodation from different sources, ?10% separate flights and accommodation from a single source (a Flight-Plus booking) and 11% flight?only. A further 6% of bookings involved rail or ferry bookings and 1% were unclear.
The survey did not ask consumers what kind of company they made an online booking with and it assumed consumers could identify a package holiday.
John McEwan, chief executive of Advantage Travel Centres and chairman of Abta, said: “Online is the biggest single channel so the results are not a big surprise.
“There are major online travel retailers, and Tui Travel and Thomas Cook are taking a significant proportion of bookings online.”
However, he said 68% “does seem high”, adding: “At Advantage we see a lot of evidence of people instigating transactions online, then doing more on the phone. There is a mix in the middle.”
McEwan added: “Our research shows agents consistently around 28%-29% of the total holiday market.”
