Majority of Aito clients remain willing to pay more for better holiday experience

The vast majority of Aito clients remain willing to pay more for a better holiday experience but the number is down on two years ago while expectations of expertise and support have risen, according to the association’s latest Travel Insights report.

Aito Travel Insights 2026, which surveyed more than 8,300 customers of 20 specialist travel companies in December, reflected the ‘resilience, trust and loyalty’ of members’ clients within the broader travel industry, according to Aito.

Most respondents were over 50 and described themselves as ‘financially secure’.

According to the survey, 84.3% of respondents would pay more for a better experience this year, almost the same as last year’s 84.4%, but down on 2024’s figure of 91.7%.

At the same time, all respondents (100%) wanted expertise and knowledge from their travel company, compared with 97.9% last year and the previous year, and 98.7% wanted support if things go wrong, compared with 96.9% in 2024. In total, 98.2% cited customer service as important compared with 84.4% in 2024.

In terms of financial status, 76% of respondents said their finances were holding steady  or improving over the next 12 months.

However, reflecting the current climate, the proportion who believed their finances would worsen increased to just over one in ten in 2024 to close to one in five this year, while fewer travellers expected their financial position to improve.

“Overall confident remains high but there are early signs of growing caution about future financial prospects,” said the report.

Roy Barker, director of customer data and insights company Spike, which puts the survey together, admitted: “I don’t think I can say there are no clouds on the horizon.”

Nature Trek managing director Andy Tucker, speaking on a panel at the report’s launch, said he was convinced the cost of holidays was having an impact on Aito clients.

“There has been a 30% increase in price of long-haul air fares in the last four to five years. I think this is probably limiting growth from our perspective,” he said, adding: “We had our best year ever in 2025 (in turnover and passenger numbers). I feel the bounce back from the pandemic has started to fall away , growth is not quite as strong as previous years.”

Sandra Corkin, creative director, Oasis Travel, said the agency was seeing more demand for expertise.

“People want to know they are in the hands of an expert. They are looking for more immersive experiences when travelling and personalised itineraries,” she said, adding: “Having access to so many more [Aito] operators gives us a real advantage to our competitors. We are giving really added value and suggestions that people have not thought of when we are using expert Aito operators.”