High street bookings on the rise
The number of people booking holidays in high street travel agencies is rising, according to ABTA’s latest research.
The 2016 Holiday Habits Report, released at the ABTA Convention today, found 19% of Brits have booked in store in the last 12 months, compared to 17% in 2015.
Young families (37%) and affluent households (35%) are the most likely to book in a travel agency.
ABTA head of communications Victoria Bacon said it was also surprising that when the figures were broken down by age, the younger generation are the biggest in-store bookers.
The research found 29% of 25 to 34-year-olds had booked in a high street shop, but the figure drops with age, falling to 13% for the over 65s.
"Our anecdotal evidence suggests young people like to book in store because they are less experienced and less confident in the booking process," said Bacon.
"They are also more likely to be travelling as a group, so it’s easier to go in to a shop and get an agent to do everything, and they’re also more likely to have a set budget, so they can go into an agency with that budget and see what’s available."
But although nearly one in five people are booking in store, the majority of people (76%) are booking their holiday on line, and 21% over the phone.
The research was conducted by Arkenford in August and questioned a sample of 1962 consumers.
News from The Travel Convention sponsored by Hertz UK
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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