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One-third of UK adults planning an overseas holiday this summer will make a last-minute booking, according to research for Travel Weekly.
A survey of 2,000 consumers by research firm TNS in early June found one in five (18%) had already booked or taken a holiday abroad and a further 25% were “very likely” or “quite likely” to book a holiday.
It found 32% of those still intending to book were likely to do so late – 15% “no more than a month” before departure and 17% “no more than a few days” before. This appears high compared with Civil Aviation Authority figures for 2012 showing fewer than
10% of July departures booked late and less than 8% for that August.
The findings fit a summer 2014 market that saw strong bookings early, but a decline since mid-March leading to pressure on prices (Travel Weekly, June 26).
The TNS research found the last-minute trend strongest among 16 to 24-year-olds, of whom 39% intending to take a holiday said they would book late. London showed the lowest rate for last-minute booking at 9%, against 24% in the north, although the proportion already booked was highest in the north (23%) and lowest in London (11%). Adults with children were also unlikely to book last minute – just 9% said they would do so.
Those who last took an overseas holiday in 2013 were most likely to book this year (42%). Consumers who have already had a holiday this year were most likely to have another booked already (37%).
TNS head of travel and tourism Tom Costley noted: “Almost half the population (46%) claim to have had at least one overseas holiday in the last 18 months.”