Among UK consumers, online consumer survey firm GWI found 25% believed their financial situation will get worse, but 45.7% believe it will remain the same and nearly 30% expect an improvement. Top concerns were the rising cost of living, household debt and disposable income pressures.
However, Stuart Baker, GWI’s business director, travel, leisure, hospitality and services, said next year’s travel would be characterised by bigger spend and longer durations, while 34% said they would holiday in a group of five or more.
Speaking at Abta Travel Trends, he said: “People are feeling materially comfortable with finances, but there are some headwinds coming.” He added concerns over energy bills and food would play a part. “They are still going on this trip, but they are worried day to day.”
GWI claims to be the world’s largest online consumer survey, with more than a million responses globally.
It found consumer confidence globally has dipped for the first time since the start of the year but remains high. Asked how confident consumers were about their country’s ability to overcome the pandemic, 53% expressed confidence in November, a decrease from the August high of 60%, but still far more optimistic than January’s 37%.
Baker said only 11% of UK consumers had firm holiday plans but more than 55% said they wanted to travel in 2022.
“This equates to nearly 20 million British travellers,” he said, adding there was now a “never waste time, never lose a moment” attitude among consumers following 20 months of restrictions.
Selling to them was “all about trust and reliability”, he said. One key trend was “unlearning learnt behaviour”, with consumers being used to purchasing remotely for the last two years but being “burnt-out” trying to understand travel restrictions.
He advised: “There is a way to ‘unlearn’. Communicate with them in a meaningful way, don’t just grab their attention. After two years, people value human interaction, trust and reliability, and they are prepared to pay for it.”
He said the number of UK consumers planning to holiday in Europe had risen 17% since the pandemic. “It is just the nature of where consumer hesitancy is at the moment.” He added domestic holidays were “still important” for 35- to 44-year-olds with children and intergenerational households.
