how people in the UK book their holidays

As internet has expanded in uses more and more people use it even to get relaxation. For instance now people book holiday’s online. This makes it faster and easier to book a holiday but also raises the competition for the airline companies as they have to be able to entice the customers more than the other businesses. In 2009 the amount of people taking shot breaks fell by 13% this information came from the association of travel agents trend report surveys. This meant that in 2009 the financial crisis of the recession finally began to dig in to the customers who would normally take short breaks abroad. The numbers started falling after 2006 this is when the recession had first began in the UK the numbers fell for 3 years. But despite this drop in numbers the amount of passengers where the highest ever recorded.  The research done by iCrossing showed that Spain and France where the most popular destinations for holiday makers, while the most popular long haul flight was to the USA with 2.5 million people going there. Mintel’s Domestic Tourism report showed that Britain’s domestic tourism went up by an estimated 5% in 2009. The report also said that 2.5 million people had taken a staycation which is when they stay in the country but take trips to different places in the UK. Other reports say that over 84 million trips in the UK where undertaken by the UK residents. This shows that people still went online to find these places and to book hotels but never left the country. Research by compete showed that the industry’s recovery from the recession began in 2009

Technology is used a lot these days especially for holiday bookings. Forrester says that over 10% of European travellers used their mobile phones to look at flight or train schedules. Research showed that interest in city breaks dropped in 2009 this is because people would rather have one long holiday and not a number of small holidays. They would be able to get the most from their holiday by doing this. As people now have a better knowledge on how to use the internet they have looked for trusted travel brands rather than the generic brands that offer city breaks. This shows what impact internet can have on businesses and how they book flights.  Instead of people searching ‘cheap flights’ or ‘cheap hotels’ people now actually name the flight companies such as easy jet and Ryanair as they know that they have cheaper flights than most airline companies and when looking for hotels they already know the cheap hotels that won’t set them back by much such as travel lodge or premier inn. The most searched holidays on the internet are ones for hen and stag parties and New Year while romantic holidays are also very popular in the UK. The most popular holiday search destination is New York with Paris coming second from this travel companies can either lower pricing to make people want to go more than they already did or raise the price as they know people will still want to go. London came third on this list!  But the list also shows that the most popular holiday searches are all within Europe and not long haul flights with the exception of New York.  London has the most popular accommodation searches in Europe with over 15million people searching it.

The most popular form of travel is still flights with trains coming in second this could be because flights are the fastest and people get to enjoy their holiday more than they would if they had to catch a train or take a ferry. It shows that people are willing to pay more for comfort and quick arrival at their destinations than taking a more time consuming but cheaper way of getting there. When people go to book a holiday they normally research where they are going but they don’t want to read a long article they would rather a short advice page. People look up things to do before they go on holiday or restaurants this is so they can get the most enjoyment out of their stay at that destination. When people book their hotels they always look at the discounts on offer if they find one they are most likely going to choose that hotel this is because it  is cheaper and people can stay in 4 star hotels rather than a 3 star hotel which might be cheaper but without a lure of discounts are not as popular. The two most popular flight sales brands are lastminute.com and superbreak.com they get the most searches for cheap flights to Paris which shows that they are trusted to give cheap flights to people before therefore they come back for the same reason. This is what many businesses do not do which is why they are far behind.  The business with the most transport business is cheapflights.co.uk. this is because when people search cheap flights in search engines their name is always on the first page which is where customers normally look if they are going to book their holiday because for them to be on the front page of Google they must be popular and well trusted. Some web-based travel companies devote their business to one destination. The most popular for London is timeout.com the reason its trusted by people booking holidays is because sites like this can give information that other generic sites couldn’t therefore would be the better choice when booking to that particular place.

Women dominate the holiday planning therefore if a business wanted to attract more customers they would need to put out special deals that could appeal to both genders but more to the female as she would decide where the family would be going. The most popular destinations for women v men are romantic places such as Barcelona and Dublin while men book holidays to Dubai and Amsterdam more than women. Some flight companies use social media such as twitter and Facebook to promote their business  and even offer special deals to them if they ‘like’ their page or follow them on twitter this is a new form of promotion to influence the customers on where they should shop for their flights.