2004 ABTA Holiday Survey

The 2004 Holiday Survey conducted by MORI for ABTA has found that the internet is now firmly established as a booking tool for holidays. One in five (19%) holidaymakers now book their package holiday online -- six times the number that were doing so in the year 2000.

MORI's research also shows that Australia is still the number one destination that UK package holidaymakers would most like to visit, with nearly one in seven (15%) package holiday makers spontaneously responding this way.

Topline Results

• Between 9 October and 5 November 2004, MORI surveyed 724 adults aged 16 and over, face-to-face, across Great Britain, who had taken a package holiday in the previous 12 months
• Please note all figures are expressed in percentage terms
• When they do not sum exactly to 100%, this will be due to computer rounding or multiple response answers
• An asterisk (*) denotes a figure less than 0.5% but greater than zero

Q1 Within the last 12 months, how many, if any at all, of each of the following types of leisure travel or holidays have you booked and taken? Base: All (724)

Q2 Which methods have you used to book no-frills flights in the last two years? Base: All who have flown with a no frills airline in the last year (229)

Q3 And did you book your last no-frills flight using a credit card, a debit card, or another means of payment? Base: All who have flown with a no frills airline in the last year (229)

Q4 Experts have estimated that it would cost between 50p and 1632 per ticket to protect customers from being a financial victim of an airline collapsing. Do you agree or disagree that it would be a good idea to include this amount in airline ticket prices to help repay customers who have lost money and to fly back those stranded abroad? Base: All (724)

Q5a Which, if any, of these sources do you tend to use to gain information about travel? Please just read out the letter(s) that apply. Q5b And which of these methodologies have you ever used to book any type of travel? This might be holidays, flights, car hire, or even ferry crossings. Q5c And how did you book your last package holiday? Base: All (724)

Q6 Do you have access to the internet via Broadband? Base: All who use the internet via a computer for travel purposes (420)

Q7 To what extent would you say that accessing the internet via Broadband makes it more or less likely that you spend time browsing on travel web sites? Base: All who have access to broadband internet (216)

Q8 Thinking about booking holidays over the next two years, which of these methodologies do you think you might use? Base: All (724)

Q9 What, if anything, could travel agencies do to convince you to book package holidays through a travel agency as opposed to via the internet what else could they do? Base: All who may book via the internet/digital TV (391)

Q10 How would you describe the overall service provided by your travel agent when you booked your last package holiday? Base: All who booked their last package holiday through a Travel Agent (472)

Q11 And when you booked your last package holiday, to what extent would you say that the person who served you was able to deal with all of your queries? Base: All who booked their last package holiday through a Travel Agent (472)

Q12 Would you say that in the last five years or so, the advice given by travel agents has become more trustworthy, less trustworthy, or stayed about the same? Base: All who booked their last package holiday through a Travel Agent (472)

Q13 How likely are you to use the same travel agent again? Base: All who booked their last package holiday through a Travel Agent (472)

Q14 Which, of the following best describes what you did about travel insurance for your last holiday? Base: All (724)

Q15 How well did you feel the person who sold you your travel insurance understood how appropriate the policy was for your needs? Base: All who bought travel insurance (489)

Q16 If money were no object, and you were able to visit only one more country, which country would you most like to visit? This could be a country you have been to before and would like to return to, or somewhere completely new. Base: All (724)