The Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito) has released new data to show the emerging trends in travel.
More than 28,000 people completed the survey, issued by Aito in association with data insight company Spike Marketing, which was revealed at this year’s Aito conference in Cordoba, Spain.
The research highlighted that Aito members have a challenge ahead with around a quarter of those who last booked with an agent (28%) or a tour operator (25%) reporting that they were undecided if they would book their holiday the same way.
The majority of those who completed the survey were from the UK (85%), with respondents also coming from the US, Australia and Canada.
Of those polled, 55% said they travelled as couples, 72% said they travel with the family and only 5% said they take escorted tours.
In addition 63% said they planned to take a short break abroad in the next 12 months and 8% plan to take a longer holiday of six nights or more abroad. 90% said they will take a short break in the UK.
When it came to travel spend, more than 70% said they would spend the same or more on their holidays in the next 12 months compared with what they had spent in the last 12 months. Around 30% said they would spend more this year than last year.
Of those polled, 55% intend to take one or two overseas short breaks this year, up 7% on last year. 74% intend to take up to three UK short breaks this year, up 4% compared to last year.
Most respondents said they planned to visit France, followed by Italy, Spain, the UK, USA and Greece.
Kate Kenward, executive director of Aito, said: “We are thrilled to have received so many responses to our Travel Insights survey. As special interest operators, Aito members need to understand their customers’ travel requirements as fully as they can to enable them to tailor their holiday programmes even better.
“This survey was crafted carefully to capture customers’ key travel considerations, intentions and buying habits, as well as their holiday preferences and important decision trigger points.
“We have obtained an enormous amount of very interesting and useful data as a result of this project. Participating members – and AITO itself – will be able to evaluate the overall results as well as their own company-specific responses.
“We think it will drive some important decision-making for AITO members over the coming years, and we hope to repeat and refine the research both next year and beyond.”