Less than one in five people who booked a holiday in the past 12 months did so through a high street travel agent, ABTA has revealed.
The 2010 ABTA Consumer Trends survey found that 52 per cent booked through a tour operator or travel agent but only 17% of these went to a high street agent while 24% booked online with a tour operator and 11% booked over the phone with an agent or operator.
The remaining bookings were made up of 25 per cent of people going direct to an accommodation provider by phone or internet and 33 per cent direct to a transport provider.
The research was from a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 consumers, who were quizzed by a research company in September.
For holidays in the UK, 30 per cent dealt through a travel agent or tour operator, 59 per cent went direct to the accommodation provider and 17 per cent direct to a transport provider.
“Over half of consumers continue to use agents and operators for their foreign holidays as they value the service, protection and standard of product offered,” said ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer.
Over the same period, 77 per cent of customers said they had taken at least one holiday either in the UK or overseas.
Meanwhile, the survey also found out that 71 per cent of people were aware of ABTA. Some 48 per cent were aware of the Air Travel Organiser’s Licence scheme and 32 per cent aware of the International Air Transport Association.
Jeremy Skidmore
