Travel planning habits analysed
UK holidaymakers are spending longer planning their trips than before, a trend that could potentially have a major impact on the holiday booking process and open up new opportunities for online travel agents (OTAs). This is according to new research from experience design agency 383, undertaken in February this year by Research Without Barriers.
The research, which took in survey responses from 2,032 UK adults, found that 42 per cent of UK adults spend at least some time searching for holidays they know they can’t afford to actually book. Forty-one per cent, meanwhile, search for holidays either during their working day or while commuting to and from work – this trend is particularly prevalent among those aged 25 to 34 years. Forty-eight per cent of UK adults are more likely to dream of a holiday during the winter, while 21 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds start thinking about holidays on pay day, compared with 16 per cent of those aged 25 to 44 who feel the same.
The research also uncovered an interesting emotional aspect to holiday booking – 37 per cent of women are likely to dream of heading off on holiday as a response to a bad day, compared with 24 per cent of men.
Additionally, it was found that 32 per cent of those aged 18 to 44 use Instagram to research potential trips, rather than sites such as Lonely Planet, Which?Travel and so on. Facebook was also an influential research source, as were travel bloggers.
Twenty-nine per cent of UK adults were found to plan holidays between two and three months before their departure date, while 22 per cent started planning between four and six months prior to departing. Forty-two per cent of those aged under 35 tend to book just two to four weeks before setting off.
“Competing with the travel booking giants in today’s landscape is a difficult challenge for OTAs, but those that capture consumers earlier on in the funnel – armed with a deeper understanding of the experience, efficiency and inspiration customers truly want – will be in a better position to hold on to consumers right through from the dreaming stage to booking,” said Sukhi Dehal, Founder of 383. “We hope our research can provide OTAs with valuable insight into their customers’ mindsets and behaviours. Dreaming and planning is a vital part of the customer journey, clearly distinct from the booking stage. By tapping into these dreaming behaviours, OTAs can create a customer-first experience that increases conversions.”
In the modern landscape, keeping customers’ attention and figuring out how to translate non-committal, technologically-savvy behaviours into solid business results is very much the million-dollar question. And while consumers have an ever-expanding list of potential channels through which to access the services that they desire, the perception on behalf of service providers is that their own list of options for reaching consumers has narrowed. However, this needn’t be the case – businesses simply need to analyse consumer behaviours from the right angle and adapt accordingly, and research such as this can hopefully aid in this endeavour.