Airport disruption threatens to destroy fragile consumer confidence
After two years of Covid restrictions, consumer confidence in overseas travel has only recently returned – and the revival that the travel sector desperately needs could be undone by chaos at UK airports
With the UK heading into a four-day Bank Holiday weekend, signalling the countdown to summer season, AllClear research indicates the extent to which consumer confidence in overseas travel has finally returned. However, airlines and operators have oversold flights and holidays, resulting in flight cancellations and chaos at airports in the UK.
Compared to this time last year when only eight per cent of UK adults believed it was safe to travel abroad, there has been a six-fold increase in a year – with 50 per cent of people now believing it is completely safe to travel abroad – and 92 per cent believing it would be safe within 12 months. As a result of this, the proportion of people planning a short-haul holiday flight has almost doubled in a year (soaring from 19 per cent to 37 per cent).
“Airports need to be ready for the travel bounce back”
Shedding light on where people may be holidaying this summer, Southern Europe, Northern Europe and Scandinavia are the regions deemed to be safest with two in five (40 per cent) Brits believing it was already safe to travel to these places, a tenfold increase on last year (four per cent).
Chris Rolland, CEO of AllClear Travel Insurance, commented: “The travel sector has stood on a cliff edge during two years of social restrictions and the last thing we need right now is resurgent consumer confidence to be damaged – not just the inconvenience caused for those at airports this weekend, but the images of these events adversely impacting people’s travel plans for the summer holidays.
“Airports need to be ready for the travel bounce back the sector desperately needs. If we face a period of delays and cancellations at UK airports, there is a serious risk it will impact people's holiday plans. Consumer confidence in travel has returned – but it is fragile after two years of lockdown and everyone in the sector must focus on doing whatever they can to protect this.”