It’s official, families love to go on holiday according to ABTA report, says Jane Anderson, Editor, Family Traveller
ABTA report reveals families still love to travel
In an age of uncertainty, a recent ABTA report reveals that UK families aren’t prepared to give up their precious holidays.
UK families value their holidays like never before despite the effects of terrorism and Brexit according to ABTA’s 2016 Holiday Habits Report. Overall, 86% of Britons said they took a holiday either at home or abroad in the 12 months to August 2016, up from 77% on the previous year.
Of these figures the family market is significant with 39% of all holidays taken with immediate family (up 1% from 2015), 20% with extended family (same as 2015) and 6% with groups of friends including kids (up 5% from 2015).
However, in an age of uncertainty, ‘having everything taken care of’ has seen a surge in the appeal of package holidays, especially amongst younger holidaymakers (18-24 year olds) and the most affluent, including families. Almost two thirds of people (62%) from the most affluent households, took a package holiday abroad in the last 12 months, a significant increase of 23% on the previous year. This may reflect a rise in standard and choice of package holiday types including luxury and tailormade holidays.
Holidaymakers also want value for money and the protection offered by package holidays. Other key reasons include convenience and demand for all-inclusives.
Holidaysmakers are also returning to the high street, with affluent households and young families favouring holidays booked in-store. 37% of young families booked a holiday in-store over the last 12 months.
People are also most likely to book in-store for trips to new destinations, holidays of seven nights or more and city breaks, where the advise of a travel expert is valued. However when holidaymakers do book online, they favour a laptop over mobile or tablet for the actual transaction. The more expensive the booking, the bigger the screen.
Consumer research for ABTA was conducted by Arkenford Ltd.