ABTA reports rise in awareness
New independent research has found a growth in awareness of the ABTA badge during the peak holiday booking period and ranks ABTA as the most trusted travel organisation in the UK.
Independent consultancy Arkenford carried out research with over 1,000 consumers in March, which looked at people’s awareness and understanding of ABTA, as well as people’s trust in the organisation compared to travel companies and other associations and trustmarks.
The findings reveal that 80% are aware of the ABTA brand, an increase of 6% since August 2018. Spontaneous awareness – the ability to recall the brand when asked to think about travel organisations they are aware of – is much higher than any other travel association/trust scheme.
As well as being aware of ABTA, there is much greater familiarity with the organisation compared with other travel schemes – 61% of people say that they know at least a little bit about ABTA – more than any other travel association or trust mark.
The research also asked respondents to rank organisations on a confidence scale of 1 to 4, where one is a ranking of most confidence and four least confidence. ABTA was ranked number one by 42% of respondents. No other travel scheme or company came close to this ranking for confidence, said ABTA. Only 9% of people ranked Trustpilot in category one, and 11% ranked ATOL in category one, for example.
Some 59% of respondents said they were more likely to book a holiday with a company displaying the ABTA badge, and 88% said they had a positive feeling as a result of seeing the logo.
ABTA director of brand and business development Victoria Bacon said: "Gaining people’s trust in your brand and business is much harder to achieve than it once was. This new independent research shows that ABTA is clearly ranked the UK’s most trusted travel organisation. It also tells us that not every travel badge is the same – high recognition does not necessarily equate to high trust.
"This is a really powerful tool for our members to use in their marketing as the ABTA badge offers a compelling trust proposition for their customers, complementing their own brands."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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