Domestic market suffers, outbound tourism grows

A new report was recently released detailing the trends in travel of UK residents over the past year and predicting the future of travel in years to come.

The "Travel Agents & Overseas Tour Operators Market Report 2007" was recently released by Research and Markets, giving a general picture of the tourism market in the UK this year.

According to the report, outbound tourism expenditure from the UK, excluding the amount spent on travel to and from the country was 34.41 billion in 2006. Expenditure on domestic tourism, however, was much lower. Excluding day trips, Britons spend only £21 billion on tourism within the UK.

Package tours are becoming less popular for a number of reasons, according to the report. One reason is the growth of property purchase abroad by Britons. Instead of going on a package holiday, more and more residents of the UK are taking advantage of budget airlines to fly directly to their holiday homes and timeshare condominiums.

For travel agents and tour operators, the report held some bad news. Independent travel is increasing, which is decreasing traveller's reliance on their travel agents. "Another challenge is posed by the trend towards independent travel, where travel, accommodation and other services, such as car hire, are booked direct by the traveller, rather than through a travel agent."

The internet has also contributed to the woes of travel agents over the past few years with more people directly booking their travel online with the airline of their choice.

While between 2002 and 2006 outbound tourism has enjoyed the benefits of several positive developments and seen healthy growth, domestic tourism is suffering. Domestic holidays are not as cost effective today as they once were with budget airlines and favourable exchange rates luring residents out of the country.

In the future, the report suggests that travel agents able to capture some of the online market will be most successful and traditional high-street retailers will encounter difficulties. The report predicts that tour operators with strong online systems will continue to be the largest sector of the resident travel market of the UK.


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Jennifer Jones Editorial


04/12/2007



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