The income and savings of retired holidaymakers have not been as badly hit as those of younger generations, making them a key market for the travel sector, according to a Travel Weekly panel.
Speaking on a webcast about mature travellers, Debbie Marshall, Silver Travel Advisor managing director, said: “We’ve seen constantly, through all our research, is that – perhaps unlike the millennials and Gen Z – the boomers find that their pensions and their savings are largely intact, right the way through this pandemic.
“They still have plenty of money to spend on holidays and that’s really encouraging.
“They’ve not had much else to spend it on other than home improvements. People are doing some DIY and sorting out their houses but they haven’t had a great drain on funds.
“That bodes well for when they can travel again.”
As well as huge pent-up demand, the surveys by Silver Travel Advisor are seeing the market evolve as customers become more confident about holidays.
Last summer, the research highlighted the “garden gaters”, who were wary of leaving the house, said Marshall.
“There is definitely a growing confidence now that they’re going to get out of the garden gates and become what we call the ‘belt and bracers’ – they want every box ticked, they want to know where they’re going is Covid-secure, the medical facilities are good, their insurance is going to be put in place,” she said.
“At the top end, we’ve got the Avengers, who are now so desperate to get out.
“We are seeing people move up through the grades.”
Paul Hardwick, head of commercial at Fred Olsen Travel, said his agencies are seeing some concerns from clients whose holidays were booked and cancelled several times, so few bookings being made for the first half of 2021.
“Most of the bookings are for 2022 at the moment and we’ve got a fair amount for the second half of 2021 at the moment,” he said.
“If the vaccines are rolling out faster, and the confidence is picking up, that will be key.”
Iain Powell, head of trade sales and third-party cruise at Saga, added: “The later months of 2021 have been performing exceptionally well.
“Spring is tough and now that will be pushed out to May and June.
“March-April is difficult for everybody.”
Hardwick said Fred Olsen agents are now ringing clients whose holidays were cancelled but have not yet rebooked anything, to suggest they can now start to consider booking a trip to look forward to.
He said phone calls are a key communication channel for older clients but emails have become more popular during the pandemic.
“Our email database has never been stronger. At the beginning of pandemic, we only had 40% of our customers with email addresses attached to them and now it’s over 60% because people actually want to hear from us that way,” he said.
Turn-of-year marketing has focused on digital channels rather than the stores which are closed during lockdown – but the agencies are still able to promote holidays in shop windows, he said.
“We’ve put huge banners in the windows with QR codes, so, as people are out, all they’ve got to do is walk past,” he said.
“People are getting used to [QR codes] with the NHS app and menus in restaurants.
“They can download our magazine onto their phone as they walk past.”
Marshall added: “I just love the idea of older people walking past a shop with their mobile phone and getting QR code.
“A few years ago, it would be unthinkable. People have had to get used to the technology, whether that is through using Zoom or Teams to talk to their family, because so many people have been distanced from their children and their grandchildren. I think that’s fantastic.”