Confidence returns but bookings slow
More than half of people are holding back booking their 2004 foreign holiday, ABTA research has revealed. The threat of terrorism continues to be a concern, although the level of worry has receded over last year. The ABTA/MORI poll of consumer holiday booking intentions in the peak booking month of January showed that terrorism was preventing 3% of people booking, against 17% last March as the Iraq war started. But the poll found that a further 17% would leave booking until later because they expected to get a better deal, while a further 33% said they had delayed for other reasons. The telephone poll of 1,000 people revealed that 28% had already booked, down from 33% in March last year but an improvement on the 23% recorded in January 2002. ABTA claimed the findings showed that consumer confidence in booking overseas holidays has returned as terrorism fears recede. ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds said: “British consumers continued to travel in huge numbers over the last couple of years but lack of consumer confidence made the trading environment extremely tough. Our members are more optimistic about this year and this is borne out by the MORI consumer research.” An ABTA spokesman said there was “definitely a propensity for late bookings” but ABTA members felt the outlook was better than this time last year. TUI UK claimed that strong discounts and offers were encouraging people to book, with sales “well up” over the last few days for this winter, summer 2004 and next winter. “Certainly we are optimistic that those who haven’t booked do intend to book a holiday,” a spokeswoman said. “We’ve seen a general trend towards a later booking pattern over the last few years and this is backed up by our own research as well as these MORI findings.”
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