Holiday Booking Process - UK - March 2008

Table of Contents

• Issues in the Market
• Key issues
• Definitions
• Abbreviations
• Market in Brief
• Evolving holiday habits
• A new currency in holiday research
• Economic detox may trim secondary holiday spending
• Market in buoyant mood
• Independent booking growing rapidly
• Inspire me. Where the ideas come from
• ' Buy now' . The Booking
• Internal Market Environment
• Key points
• Holiday booking as leisure activity
• Holiday-taking trends
• Dramatic shift in holiday-taking patterns
  • Figure 1: Percentage of adults booking UK and overseas holidays, 2002-07
  • Figure 2: Percentage of adults booking UK and overseas holidays, 2002-07
• Growth in independent holidays
  • Figure 3: Percentage of UK and overseas holidaymakers making their own travel/accommodation arrangements, 2004-07
• Online development
• Brand reputation in a user-generated world
• Internet penetration reaching its potential
  • Figure 4: Growth in Internet penetration, 2001-07
  • Figure 5: Trends in broadband vs. dial-up Internet penetration, 2001-07
  • Figure 6: Gap between Internet and population profiles, by gender, socio-economic group, age and working status, October 2007
• Amount spent on online travel purchasing
• Low-cost air travel
  • Figure 7: Scheduled passengers carried by main low-cost airlines, 2002-06
• The rise of the online portal
• Offline channel development -- dynamic packaging makes headway into the travel agent
• Putting branding into the dynamic packaging mix
• New technologies in dynamic packaging
• But how ' independent' can it get?
• Broader Market Environment
• Key points
• Consumer spending habits
  • Figure 8: Total PDI, consumer expenditure and savings, 2003-12
• Base rates and lending
  • Figure 9: Bank of England average annual base rate, 2000-07
• Employment trends
  • Figure 10: UK workforce and employment, by gender, 2002-12
• Consumer confidence
  • Figure 11: Year-on-year trend in monthly approvals for house purchase to individuals, 2005-07
• Bigger market opportunities from population increase
  • Figure 12: Size of UK population, by age group, 1999-2011
• Exchange rates
  • Figure 13: Sterling exchange rates at the beginning of each year, 2004-07
• Strengths and Weaknesses
• Online channel
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Offline channel
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Competitive Context
• Key points
• Holidays flourish in the experience economy
  • Figure 14: Comparative trends in holiday expenditure and other areas of discretionary spend, 2002-07
  • Figure 15: Indexed comparison of holiday expenditure and other areas of discretionary spend, 2002-07
• Where' s the competition coming from?
• Domestic and Overseas Holiday Market Size and Forecast
• Key points
  • Figure 16: Domestic and overseas holiday volumes, 2002-11
  • Figure 17: Domestic and overseas holiday expenditure current value, 2002-12
• Future slowdown
• Factors used in the forecast
• Holiday Bookings and Timings
• Key points
  • Figure 18: How last holiday abroad was booked, 2002-07
• Agents down...but certainly not out
• Tour operators take flight
• Longer booking periods
  • Figure 19: When booking for last holiday abroad was made, 2002-07
• Market Share
• Key points
  • Figure 20: Passengers licensed to top ten groups and companies, 2005/06 and 2006/07
• Travel Companies and Brands
• Key points
• Cosmos
• easyJet
• Expedia Inc
• Lastminute.com
• Ryanair
• Thomas Cook plc
• Travelsupermarket.com
• TUI Travel plc
  • Figure 21: TUI Travel UK trading performance, winter 2007/08 and summer 2008
• XL Leisure
• Types of Holiday Taken
• Key points
  • Figure 33: Previous holiday taken, October 2007
• Profiling the independent booker
  • Figure 34: Prominent characteristics and features of the independent booker, October 2007
• Profiling the package holidaymaker
  • Figure 35: Prominent characteristics and features of the package holidaymaker, October 2007
• Holiday Research
• Key points
  • Figure 36: Pre-booking research methods, October 2007
• We are your friends
• Holiday dreams come true
• Travel agent still valued -- for now
• Cheap air travel makes the world go round
• Online doesn' t just mean independent
• The lure of print and screen
• Research by holidays taken
  • Figure 37: Holiday research, by holidays taken, October 2007
• Independents say
• Step one for independent travel -- find the cheap fare
• Going independent doesn' t always mean sidelining the agent
• Holiday Booking Patterns
• Key points
  • Figure 38: Previous holiday booking patterns, October 2007
• Online the dominant channel
• Tour operators widen their relevance to the independent traveller
• Holiday add-ons build value
• One-stop shopping
  • Figure 39: Holiday booking, by holidays taken, October 2007
• Travel agent serves the package tourist
• Appendix -- Types of Holiday Taken
• Independent holiday
  • Figure 40: Independent holidays taken, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel' s Special Groups, working status, household income, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups, age/socio-economic group and terminal education age, October 2007
• Package holiday
  • Figure 41: Package holidays taken, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel' s Special Groups, working status, household income, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups, age/socio-economic group and terminal education age, October 2007
• Appendix -- Holiday Research
  • Figure 42: Most popular pre-booking research methods, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel' s Special Groups, working status, household income, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups, age/socio-economic group and terminal education age, October 2007
  • Figure 43: Further pre-booking research methods, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel' s Special Groups, working status, household income, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups, age/socio-economic group and terminal education age, October 2007