• Thomas Cooks has investigated the priorities for British travellers in 2013
• Beach holidays the most popular option for winter and summer fun
• Personal gadgets named must-have holiday accessory as third of kids’ holiday with a smart device
After one of the wettest years on record, Thomas Cook’s December surveys have revealed a general public eager to get away in 2013. Here are the hotly tipped holiday trends for the coming twelve months, showcasing just what it is that Brits consider vitally important on their trips abroad.
Fun in the sun
Top summer and winter holiday destinations reveal people are craving sunny beach holidays for 2013 after a damp 2012. Turkey and Tunisia are the respective winners, both of which have beautiful Mediterranean coastlines and more than comfortable climates. New York, the predicted top long haul destination, is considerably less sunny and sandy but definitely a vibrant and cultural choice. The number two spot went to Thailand which has all four reasons to visit New York in abundance.
Contact with home
Something else Thomas Cook discovered was that the availability of Wi-Fi in hotels is increasingly important to holidaymakers with over 28% of those surveyed saying it was very important or even vital. Considering the fact that a third of kids now take a smart device away with them, even family holidays need to come with easy access to Wi-Fi as part of the package to keep everyone happy! That’s why Thomas Cook has acted to make over 1,000 hotels with Wi-Fi access available in its summer 2013 programme.
More reason to travel
As some of the reasons given for not going abroad in 2012 included watching the Olympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee, holiday bookings are expected to rise in 2013 with these major events missing from the calendar.
The holiday search
Thomas Cook not only researched where and how we want to holiday, they also surveyed the methods used to research and book holidays. The results confirmed that there has been a predictable shift towards holiday shopping online. We are increasingly using tablets and smartphones to access these deals too with around 30% of the UK’s travel related searches made on such devices.
In light of these findings Thomas Cook have made the move to develop a fully mobile-optimised website that will make using Thomas Cook’s site far more appealing to a significant number of potential customers.
While electronic devices might be popular for research, 46% of customers still prefer to book holidays face-to-face. Omni-channel rather than a single channel retail environment is 3.5 times more profitable than the latter with Thomas Cook investing in stylish, inviting and modern stores to entice customers in response to this.
