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trust in travel agents survey news
Despite ease of booking via the web, survey reveals faith in agents to get the best deal, and offer best protection. By Daniel Pearce
Majority trust agents to find them the best deal
In at the start: Highworth Travel’s Clare Waldron (left) and Nikki Dore signed the Charter earlier this month
LARGE NUMBERS of the public trust travel agents to get them the best deal for their holidays – with young people particularly keen to use them.
The finding was among a string of positive responses revealed in our Trust in Travel Agents survey, carried out exclusively for TTGby research firm Harris Interactive. But it wasn’t all good news. The study also highlighted how many people preferred the convenience of buying direct, with only three out of 10 (29%) saying they would opt to use an agent over other channels if the price was the same. Mark Baldwin, travel and tourism research consultant at Harris, said: “Our findings show there is a positive outlook for agents. The major- ity of people believed an agent could potentially get them the best deal compared with alterna- tive booking methods, including the internet.
The Trust in Travel Agents survey was carried out among a total of 1,016 adults aged between 16 and 64, between October 12-18 2010 Visit
harrisinteractive.co.uk
“Most people agreed they would be better protected if something goes wrong on holi- day when booking via an agent”.
Better price Most respondents to the Om- nibus Poll of 1,016 consumers believed agents had the know- how and service skills to get them a better price than if they
were to buy direct. Six out of 10 (59%) said they were confident that agents could get them the best deal – with the number rising to 66% for 25 to 34-year-olds and 70% for 16 to 24-year-olds. Younger people also had more confidence in
travel agents’ ability to help them out if some- thing went wrong while they were away. In the year of the ash cloud, the BA strikes and business failures such as Goldtrail and Kiss Flights, it would appear that younger people do have the best impression of agents.
Sign up to the Trust in Travel Agents Charter today Travel agents are continuing to get on board with the Trust in Travel Agents campaign and sign up to the campaign charter every day of the week. Have you signed and displayed the charter yet?
Charity – why don’t you like to talk about it? Travel agents across the UK are working hard for their communities and raising money for local charities, but it appears they need to do more to shout about it. TTGresearch carried out for our Vote for
Travel campaign earlier this year showed that 48% of agents regularly raise funds for charity, with more than (51%) having collected more than £1,000 over the previous year. Yet our Trust in Travel Agents survey shows just how much work our campaign has to do. Only 5% of all respondents said they were aware of agents getting involved with fundraising. The number rose to 14% when consumers
were asked if they agreed that travel agents play a community role, with the number rising to 21% for 16 to 24-year-olds.
Overall eight out of 10 (78%) believed they
were better protected if something went wrong on holiday when booking with an agent, but 25% of 16 to 24-year-olds said they thought that suggestion was verycredible compared with an average of 12% across every age group.
Northern heartland Scotland, the north-east and the north-west regions were confirmed as the heartland of travel agents, with each region scoring highly among respondents saying they would choose to book through an agent if the price was the same across every channel.
Half of all Scots said they would use a travel agent if price was no object, with the proportion falling to 40% of those in the north-east and 37% of those in the north-west – against the national average of just 29%. When it comes to the big travel issues of 2010, the statistics suggested they had not had a major impact on how most people chose to book their holidays, with eight out of 10 (81%) saying they were neither more nor less likely to arrange their holidays with an agent as a result. While there was plenty of encouragement, the statistics showed there was still lots to do when it comes to rebuilding confidence in agents and the values of service, value, protection and community, set out in the TTG campaign.
Tell us if you have, tell us about your business, and we’ll send you free campaign badges and window stickers. Visit
trustintravelagents.com, email
trustintravelagents@ttglive.com or call 020 7921 8008 today
29.10.2010 09
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