72% of UK travellers prefer to search for holidays online

The latest eCustomerServiceIndex results from eDigitalResearch and IMRG reveals that UK travellers are prefer to research and book their holidays online rather than by telephone or in-store.

In fact, the survey confirmed that more than half of consumers (53%) will avoid in-store travel agents when researching and booking hotels, travel tickets, or holidays.

Mobile as a channel is playing an increasing role for holidaymakers nowadays with 68% of smartphone owners using their mobiles when planning to travel or go on holiday with most preferring to use mobile optimised sites or apps.

Derek Eccleston, Head of Research at eDigitalResearch, explains, “The travel industry has faced some turbulent times in recent years. A good multichannel strategy will be key for companies looking to grow in 2012, especially as our survey showed that 34% of consumers will use the internet more when booking and browsing for their next holiday, whilst 10% of mobile users said that they would use their smartphone more to do the same”.

Andrew McClelland, Chief Operations & Policy Officer at IMRG, commented: “These figures show that consumers want to use the online resources at their disposal in their own time and on their own terms, with 53% saying that they actually avoid in-store travel agencies altogether. With confidence in researching and purchasing travel through the mobile channel also growing, it seems clear that travel agencies’ physical stores need to look at innovative methods for bringing online technology in-store in order to increase footfall, ensuring that consumers feel they have options available to them and an increased sense of control over the process.”

Read more about how 192business is helping travel agents, airlines and hotels to ensure their online booking process is safe and is protected against fraudulent bookings and chargeback costs.

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