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More people are opting for exploration rather than relaxation in their holiday choice With the summer holidays soon upon us, latest data from TGI reveals that people in Britain are becoming more adventurous with their selection of holiday destinations. The number of holiday makers who agree that they ‘prefer to take holidays off the beaten track,’ has increased from 7.5 million in 2002, to 8.7 million today – a rise of 16%. The number who say that when they go on holiday they only want to eat, drink and lie in the sun, has seen a decrease from 6.6 million to 5.9 million over the same time period – a 10% decline. TGI Director Julian Tooke: “With Britain embracing low cost airlines, it is now possible for people to visit alternative holiday destinations such as Eastern Europe with 14.1 million holiday-goers agreeing that they ‘try to go somewhere different on holiday every time.’ Whereas previously people were holidaying in Spain and Portugal, now people have more choice and may opt to travel to Poland, Estonia or Latvia instead.” Venturing further afield It appears that traditional beach/resort holidays are becoming less popular, for example the Canary Islands has seen a decrease of over 300,000 British visitors since 2002. People are now venturing further in their holiday destinations for example Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand have all seen big increases in terms of the number of people who visit these countries. Tooke commented: ‘With ‘Oasis Hong Kong Airlines’ new plans to offer London to Hong Kong flights for £75, there is the possibility of other airlines offering similar low cost packages on long haul flights. This would allow those who normally wouldn’t be able to afford to travel to these destinations, to experience these cultures. In turn, this could mean that traditional holiday destinations in the next ten years include Australia and Japan.’ The decline of the package holiday abroad The proportion of holiday makers who have taken a package holiday abroad has seen a decline from 36% in 2002 to 31% today – a 14% decline. This decline is counterbalanced by an increase in the proportion who make their own travel/accommodation arrangements – up from 41% to 45%, with is a 10% increase. Interestingly, more older holiday makers are now willing to make their holiday arrangements with 4.2 million holiday makers aged 55+ making their own arrangements today, compared to 3.4 million in 2002 - a 24% increase. Tooke remarked: ‘Online holiday booking has seen a dramatic increase and the ease of booking one’s holiday online makes it a cheaper and quicker alternative than visiting a travel agent.’ The TGI survey was established by BMRB in 1969 and is the UK’s foremost single source consumer market research database examining lifestyle attitudes, media and brand consumption. It offers information on usage of 4,000+ brands in 500 product areas for those aged 15+, enabling for example, a user to identify the Lifestyle attitudes, media and brand consumption of car drivers. TGI is a continuous survey based on the sample size of c.25,000 interviews per annum, the questionnaire being placed with selected respondents at the end of BMRB’s Omnibus survey. BMRB is one of the largest market research agencies in the UK and is a key operating company within the KMR Group. For more, visit www.bmrb.co.uk KMR is a division of the Millward Brown Group, part of Kantar, the information, insight and consultancy arm of WPP. For more, visit www.kmr-group.com
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