Next year could witness an even more marked improvement on pre-pandemic holiday sales than 2023, specialist travel companies have been told.
A large-scale consumer survey carried out on behalf of The Specialist Travel Association (Aito) has shown even more customers want to take holidays in 2024.
The Consumer Travel Insights survey asked more than 14,00 clients of Aito companies if they would take more, less or the same amount of holidays than before the pandemic.
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The results showed 25% more people plan to take more holidays this year, compared with 22% who said they would travel less.
In comparison, 29% said they would take more holidays in 2024 than pre-Covid, with only 14% saying they would travel less.
This works out as a net increase of 3.5% in holidays for 2023 and a 15% net increase for holidays to be taken in 2024, said Roy Barker, director of customer data and insights company Spike, which analysed the results.
He said: “We are seeing a bounce-back in 2023 and a net increase of 15% for 2024. Potentially the market has grown by 15% compared to 2019. Part of that is the resilience of the market.
“Operational issues aside, the demand appears to be there. If you think 2023 is good, just wait for 2024.”
The survey also showed 94% of Aito consumers did not believe their finances would be adversely affected over the next 12 months, with 38% considering themselves “well off or very well off” and 80% saying holidays were an essential part of their lifestyle.
The survey gave Aito members a Net Promoter (NPS) score of 70, with 88% saying they felt they got good or excellent value for money, 94% being satisfied or very satisfied with the service they received, and 55% saying they would book in the next 12 months.
Just under half, 48%, believed business conditions faced by the travel industry would improve in the next six months, while 51% thought they would stay the same and 1% thought they would worsen.
Compared with the last quarter of 2022, when members were asked the same question, 13% more members now believed conditions would improve; 4% more thought they would stay the same; and 17% fewer people thought business conditions would worsen.
Recruitment challenges was deemed by far the most pressing issue for travel firms , cited by 46% of members.
Out of all the issues now facing travel companies, 3% more members saw recruitment as an issue in comparison with the fourth quarter of last year and 3% more saw competition as a problem while all other issues, including demand and operational challenges, were cited by fewer respondents.
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