Summer Holiday Booking Trends

The research looks at the preferences in terms of online bookings versus those in a high street travel agent, as well as uncovering that 22% of trips are bought with a discount code and more than 1 in 10 utilised cashback offers.
 
2,000 people from around the UK were polled, all of whom had at least one school aged child and had booked a family holiday abroad that they were going on during the August 2018 summer holiday break. All respondents also stated that they took the lead on the booking.
 
Awin carried out the research and asked respondents about their booking methods and details about their choice of holidays. According to the research, the majority of holidays are now booked online; with 64% using the internet to purchase their trip, 27% visiting a high street travel agent in person and 9% booked over the phone.
 
Those who booked their August 2018 holiday online were asked what device they used to do so; as many as half (49%) purchased via a mobile device, 38% on a laptop or computer and 13% on a tablet device.
 
One in five holidaymakers (22%) purchased their trip with a discount code, with the average saving revealed to be 10%. One in eight people (12%) said that they used a cashback offer when booking their holiday.
 
55% used a comparison site at some stage during their holiday booking process (be that flights and/or accommodation if they were booked separately). The average savings for those that ultimately went on to book following their comparison site experience was revealed to be £168 per return flight, £36 per room/accommodation per night and as much as £325 for a package holiday booking.
 
According to the survey, the most popular holiday destinations for the August 2018 school summer holidays were revealed to be the Balearic Islands (28%), Canary Islands (25%), Mainland Spain (16%) and Portugal (12%).
 
Craig Foster, Data Analyst for Awin said the following: “We’re always keeping abreast of ecommerce buying trends on the Awin network, and wanted to find out more about how people chose to book their trips this summer. Online bookings are overwhelmingly popular and it’s no wonder given the savings capabilities on the internet thanks to discounts, cashback offers and comparison sites.”