Research among Aito member clients found high levels of customer satisfaction and 70% ready to book again in the coming year.
The research among 15,000 consumers who booked with an Aito member in the last five years found 89% satisfied or highly satisfied with the experience.
Data strategy consultant Roy Barker, co-founder of Spike Insight which conducted the research, presented the findings to the spring annual general meeting of Aito, the Specialist Travel Association in London.
He reported: “Customers thought highly of Aito businesses and 70% of respondents said they would book again with the business they last booked with.”
Barker noted 86% rated the value for money of their most recent holiday ‘good’ or ‘very good’, with one member recording a 100% satisfaction rate, and Barker described even the lowest rating of 71% as “pretty impressive”.
The research also examined respondents’ travel intentions, finding 70% of recent customers intending to book in the coming year.
Almost nine out of 10 (86%) said they would take the same number or more holidays in 2023 than pre-pandemic – 54% the same as before and 32% more.
Nine out of 10 (91%) said they would travel abroad at least once in the next two years, with the same proportion likely to take at least one holiday in the UK in the same period.
The rising cost of living did not appear to affect this intention to travel. One in four (27%) expected their household financial position to worsen in the next 12 months, but 78% of these respondents agreed that their holidays were “essential”.
Barker said the respondents “were typical of the Aito customer base – older, more affluent” and described the results as “encouraging”.
He told Aito members: “We’ve seen people keen to travel throughout the pandemic. Now people are starting to do it.”