January travel survey shows UK holidaymakers gearing up to travel again
A recent survey by destination site travioso.com found that UK holidaymakers are getting geared up to holiday again, with 61% of UK holidaymakers expecting to be able to jet off on holiday this summer. The survey polled UK travellers who have taken an overseas holiday in the last 2 years, asking them about their next expected holiday.
Although this represents significant confidence that international travel will be back to normal for a lot of brits this summer, it does mean that a high number of holidaymakers who usually travel abroad are not intending to jet off this year.
Of those hoping to travel this summer, 95% expect they will have to adhere to some COVID-19 related restrictions such as social distancing or wearing a mask while on holiday, though only 43% are expecting quarantine or testing requirement when they return home.
The results show some significant differences by age range too, with 70% of regular holidaymakers aged 18 – 24 expecting to holiday this summer, but only half of over 45’s think they’ll be getting a holiday abroad this year.
Is a mini boom on the way?
In what will be good news for UK travel agents, the Travioso survey showed only 27% of people expecting to travel this summer have already booked their trips. This reflects information from Google, which shows people using the search engine to look for package holidays and cruises have dropped by over 75% since last January. This suggests that while people are hopeful of travel this year, they are not yet feeling confident enough to search and book their 2021 travel just yet, which means the travel industry could be in for a booking boom as restrictions are eased and customers gain the confidence to book again.
While the confidence may not be quite there yet for 2021, January is usually the peak booking month for travel in the UK, with consumers wanting something to look forward to as the winter really starts to set in. Consumers still want to spend their money and get something booked, leading to many operators reporting record advance bookings for 2022 & 2023.
Leading holiday companies are putting products on sale for 2022, 2023 and even 2024 earlier than ever. Jet2 added summer 2022 holidays in January 2021, 3 months earlier than usual, while Crystal cruises is offering relaxed cancellation and amendment terms for bookings right up to 2024.
Full survey results are available at:
https://www.travioso.com/en/article/uk-traveller-confidence-2021/
For more info: info@travioso.com