Few postponing holidays following ash crisis
Tuesday, 28 Apr, 2010
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Only one in ten people are considering postponing a planned holiday as a result of the volcanic ash crisis which grounded European flights for five days.
Almost half (46%) of people disagreed that the airspace closure made them less likely to fly for their summer holiday this year, new research shows.
The media hype around the damage that the recent events have had on future airline bookings appears unfounded, according to TNS RI Travel & Tourism which questioned 1,010 people on the impact of the ash cloud.
The study also found that 20% of people had to cancel or change business trips because they could not fly into or out of the UK.
Despite this, only 16% will consider alternative means of transport for future business trips.
The study found that almost three million British adults were directly affected by the closure of UK airports.
Eight per cent of adults were prevented from flying due to Iceland’s volcanic eruption, with a further 19% of people indirectly affected by family being unable to fly, according to the research.
More than a third (34%) of people interviewed said that they or a family member were unable to return home from a holiday on a scheduled date, while a quarter had to cancel or postpone their holiday because they could not depart.
Despite this, the vast majority of travellers accept that the Government’s flight ban decision, on the advice of the national Air Traffic Services, was the right course of action.
More than 60% of those questioned agreed that “the authorities were correct in keeping UK airspace closed for as long as they did”, rising to 70% of those directly affected by the ban.
Tom Costley, Head of TNS RI Travel & Tourism, said: “This data highlights the significant impact that the ash crisis had on travellers in Britain.
“There is continued uncertainty over the extent of the impact on taking flights and overseas trips for the rest of 2010, although it is interesting to see that the majority of travellers will not let the situation influence their future plans.
“The speed of recovery to ‘normal travel patterns’ will obviously be heavily influenced by whether the emissions from the volcano result in any further closures in coming weeks.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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