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Green Light for travel agencies - Internet users are going on their winter holidays!
2006-01-10
We are awaiting the time of trips and winter holidays, far away from work, rush, and everyday responsibilities. The report "Tourism and Internet Users" prepared by Gemius SA, Travelplanet.pl, and Wakacje.pl shows that almost 30% of Internet users within the nearest 3 months are going to buy a trip in a travel agency. But even though such a huge number of people decided to go on winter holidays, as many as 60% of them have not made the booking yet. For travel agencies' staff and tourism portals that means obviously hard work in the nearest future.
The report "Tourism and Internet Users" was created in order to see how Internet users use travel agencies' services, what their holidays habits are, and what places in the world they would like to visit during their holiday leave. The authors of the report wanted to create a valuable source of information about travel habits and expectations of Internet users. They wanted the report to be of help for the tourist sector's employees. Thanks to the Gemius' report is may be easier to prepare good offers and to promote traveling. Information included in the report shows both how Internet users spent their summer holidays and what their plans for the nearest months are.
The best places for winter holidays
Just like during summer holidays, the most popular destination among people who declared booking a trip are the European countries - the intention of spending their leave on the Old Continent expressed 48,7% of the Internet users who were planning their winter trip. More than half of the people who are going on a holiday leave in the nearest future has chosen Italy (56,2%). The second most popular choice among Internet users was Austria - 28,5%. Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Poland's neighbors were mentioned by respectively 14,5% and 2,5% of the Internet users who plan travels during the winter season.
Poles' income is still much lower than the income of the citizens of western European countries. One of the consequences of this fact is that annually the Polish plan to spend less money on recreation and holidays trips. But it seems that money is losing its importance, when there is guarantee that during our trip we will have perfect conditions and weather to practice winter sports. So when the decision has to be made, Poles are ready to spend a huge amount of money to buy a trip to Italy, Austria, or Switzerland. Smaller popularity of countries such as Slovakia or the Czech Republic can be explained by a less competitive price offer when we compare the weather conditions and ski infrastructure. Besides, in Poland as well as in the adjacent countries, we certainty do not have such a thick layer of snow, which would let us surrender to the winter craze.
For how long and for how much
Everybody dreams about the longest possible leave. As we can read in the Gemius' report, this winter Internet users who plan trips are going to spend approximately up to 7 days away from home. This answer was indicated by 40.2% of respondents. More than one third of respondents are going to spend on their leave 2 weeks.
The longest the trip, the hardest it gets for the home budget. The average amount of money that Internet users are going to spend on a winter trip was up to 2 000 PLN per person. The most expensive trips (more than 8 000 PLN per person) in winter season are chosen by 21.2% of respondents.
A majority of Internet users (47.2%) who plan to go on winter holidays will choose a stationery trip, a bit more than 9% of them will go on a circuit tour, and the combination of both types is chosen by 26.6 % of respondents. When compared to the summer season, it turns out that a plane as a means of transportation is far less popular. This is probably because of inconvenience caused e.g. by traveling with sports equipment, such as skis. It might be also due to the fact that in winter tourists more frequently choose resorts in the mountains, where it is easier, cheaper, and more comfortable to get by car, or bus.
The way of choosing a travel offer
To make a decision where to go on a long awaited and planned leave or which travel agency to choose, the highest percentage of Internet users (63.4%) use the Internet as the main source of information. Sometimes they also seek advice from their family and friends (38.3%), or just ask a travel agency's employees (26.5%). Travel brochures are a source of information for 26.3% of people. The above-mentioned data suggest that the Internet and family/friends are extremely important while planning a leave. Especially because of the Internet's importance, travel agencies should pay special attention to making professional websites and updating them frequently. Also, Internet users should be able to contact a travel agency's staff by Internet by e-mail. The report shows clearly that Internet users refer directly to travel agency's employees only when they need very detailed or specific information.
Most of the Internet users have already decided how they are going to spend this year's winter. Those who have not made their final decisions yet, still may use some promotions and last-minute offers. For travel agencies and travel portals it will definitely be the time of intensive work and... competition in offering the best. Let us hope that when all of the holidaymakers happily come back from their long awaited rest, the employees of the tourist sector will close the winter season with an impressive number of the trips sold - obviously via the Internet.
About the Research
In the research, subject to analysis were the services of travel agencies over the previous 6 months and Internet users' plans to take advantage of this kind of services within the nearest 3 months. The report was prepared in cooperation with: Travelplanet.pl, Wakacje.pl and Gemius SA. All data comes from Gemius' research and the data on online sales were provided by Travelplanet.pl and Wakacje.pl. The research was carried out with the use of online questionnaires published on the web sites that use the free site-centric audit of stat.pl/PBI. The questionnaires were emitted randomly, within the period of time between November 18 and November 21 2005. Approximately 4 680 Internet users at the age at least 15 took part in the analysis, which means that they had filled an online questionnaire. For the purpose of the analysis based on online questionnaires a special analytical weight (according to data such as sex, age, and the frequency of using the Internet) was constructed. All data was taken from the August research carried out by Interbus TNS OBOP.
Travelplanet.pl SA is a Polish online travel agency which is quoted on the Stock Exchange in Warsaw. It sells only travel offers of reputable and tested tour operators, who guarantee high quality rest to their clients. The services of Travelplanet.pl are used by more than 40 000 clients. Travelplanet.pl is one of the fastest developing companies in Central Europe, which is confirmed by the prestigious ranking FAST 50, where the company year after year occupies one of the first positions among the Central European companies. Travelplanet.pl SA as the first company in Poland is creating an innovative sales network based on customers service points localized in the biggest cities in Poland.
Wakacje.pl Sp. z o.o. is the leader among online travel agencies and among all Polish travel services. A professional team of consultants sells services of more than 100 reputable travel agencies. Every day on the web site there are presented 130 thousand offers connected with organizing holidays. Wakacje.pl is the longest operating portal in the sector of Polish e-tourism, which during its 7-years-long activity on the market received a lot of prestigious awards and distinctions, which are the best confirmation of the company's professionalism and stability.
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