Agents losing out to direct bookings for city breaks
Holidaymakers are most likely to use a travel agent to book higher value, last-minute and longer holidays, says ABTA’s latest Holidays Habits Report.
But when it comes to city and domestic breaks, consumers are more likely to book direct.
While agents were the preferred choice for booking honeymoons, a trip to a new destination, a last- minute break, and holidays over seven nights, consumers prefer to book directly for city breaks and domestic trips.
The research found that 44% of consumers will book a city break direct, compared to 39% with an agent.
Meanwhile 46% of Brits book domestic breaks direct, compared to 38% with an agent.
An ABTA spokesman said that although agents were the second choice for these types of holiday, the numbers booking through agents was still ‘surprisingly’ high.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer added: "The findings suggest that where travel professionals really come into their own is assisting people with higher value and more complex trips and providing that personal touch and insight."
A separate survey showed that city breaks have increased their lead over beach holidays as the most popular type of holiday taken by consumers.
Over half (54%) of consumers have taken a city break in the last 12 months, followed by beach holidays at 50%.
Both types of holiday have increased in popularity since 2014 when 42% of Brits took a city break and 38% took a beach holiday.
The online research was conducted by Arkenford with a sample of 2003 consumers in August 2015.
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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