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Travel Consumer 2015

Engaging the empowered holidaymaker

April 2015

The digital revolution has democratised the way consumers shop for travel. To better understand this change, we worked with the British Travel Awards (BTA) to survey over 40,000 respondents about their travel activities.

We found that travel has changed from being a seller’s to a buyer’s market. To adapt to this change, travel businesses need to undergo their own transformation from a product-centric to a consumer-centric model and put the consumer perspective at the heart of every business decision.

  • 59% of holidaymakers compare prices online, as consumers maintain their recessionary behaviour;
  • Holidaymakers are sharing experiences and influencing each other, as 42% use review websites;
  • 59% say these sites have the most influence on their booking decision;
  • 31% of holidaymakers have posted a travel-related review on a review website;
  • 33% of consumers used two or more devices when researching their most recent holiday.

 

A special thank you to the British Travel Awards

The British Travel Awards has been registering public opinion on the performance of leisure travel and visitor attraction providers since 2008. Over this period the awards programme has grown in audience reach and consumer participation. Categories for the awards include transport, destination, cruise, customer service, holiday extras and accommodation. The British Travel Awards is an independent organisation and has no stakeholder ties or affiliations to any travel companies or travel industry publications. Funding is raised through registration fees, event ticket receipts and the patronage of sponsors.

 

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