Tailor-made specialist Audley Travel has released its latest research into the UK premium travel market, while reiterating its desire to work with agents. Here are the report’s key findings.
The long-haul tour operator, which has been edging closer to the trade since Nick Longman became chief executive in 2019, surveyed 2,000 travellers across the UK.
Different age groups and locations were represented, and the majority had not travelled with Audley so it is a market overview, not an Audley client overview.
Longman said the resulting research showed that people still wanted to treat themselves: “The commitment to premium travel remains as strong, if not stronger, than it was pre-pandemic.”
"The results are certainly encouraging for the industry as a whole," he added.
Presenting the research, members of Audley’s senior team spoke about their own destination trends, which included travelling out of season becoming more normal – this was influenced by the pressure on availability of premium experiences, caused by pent-up demand post-pandemic.
While the research revealed travellers wanted more sustainable choices, Longman said the business was not tempted to make carbon offsetting mandatory.
“If the travel industry took a stance, then the whole industry would need to get behind that. But if a business decided to do it unilaterally, it would be hard one to sell. It has to be client choice, and anything imposed mandatorily means you are making that decision for the client.”
Chief marketing officer Daniel Robb agreed, saying: “When we asked, would you be prepared to pay a surcharge for long-haul travel, the answer was local single digits. But would you like to be offered sustainable choices, different story, that was high double digits.”
Product and operations director James Herbert said that Audley had expanded its range of Responsible Choice stays and experiences, with 350 products for customers to select, from eco-friendly accommodation to experiences giving back to communities.
“People are starting to seed these into their two-week trips – for two/three days at a time, and that will build up some steam,” he said.
Herbert highlighted new product that fit with demand for slow travel and community engagement, such as the Pekoe Trail, a new walking trail in Sri Lanka.
“This 300km trail can be broken down into smaller sections, – because it’s not signposted, you would probably get lost unless you do it with a local guide.”
Playing into “going off the beaten track”, a new experience at Kualoa Ranch shows a completely different side to Hawaii, while adding Explora’s new Travesia journey enables clients to explore two remote areas of Latin America – Chile’s Atacama Desert and Bolivia’s Uyuni Salt Flat.
Here are the main takeaways from Audley’s market report about premium travel:
The average spend for a two-week trip, taking into account travel, accommodation and activities, was almost £5,000 per person, with 41% planning to spend more on their holiday than they had in the past, and 10% expecting to double what they spent five years ago. However, 29% said they would be spending less.
When asked what was important about their holiday, 53% wanted to travel to a destination they had not visited before, while 26% preferred familiar places. One-third (34%) felt it was important to travel to exclusive destinations that not all holidaymakers visit; and 37% wanted to travel off-the-beaten track.
More than half of those surveyed (53%) wanted to spend time with local guides and grow their destination knowledge from an authentic source.
When it came to asking about flight class and hotel ratings, 55% travelled in economy class on their last trip, with 30% favouring premium economy, nine per cent choosing business and six per cent splashing out on first. Regarding accommodation, 44% stayed in a four-star hotel and 31% in a five-star hotel.
When asked where they had travelled in the last five years, Western Europe was the most popular region, with 56% having visited in the last five years. North America was next most popular (41%), followed by Eastern Europe (28%), South America and the Caribbean (18%) and the Middle East and Australia & New Zealand, both 15%.
The most popular holiday type, again in the last five years, was a beach holiday, enjoyed by 63% of respondents. More than half (51%) had taken a city break, 31% had travelled to meet friends and family, and 23% had travelled to visit a theme park. When asked what type of holiday they intended to take in the next two years, beaches again came out top, with 62% saying they planned to take a seaside holiday.
Three-quarters of respondents (75%) said it was important to have advice from someone with specialist expertise on their chosen destination when they book.
More than half (57%) of respondents said that having sustainable travel options, (eg lower carbon flights) was important to them, while 31% said sustainability had a strong influence over their travel choices.
When Nick Longman joined Audley Travel in 2019, agent sales were just 1% of the business. Since Audley appointed Greg Thurston as trade sales manager at the start of 2020, that share has slowly expanded: “Trade sales are still in single digits but they are growing, and we do want to sell more through the trade,” explained Longman.
“We recognise there are some very good agents out there with loyal client bases. We want to add more resource alongside Greg, but there’s no target to grow the department, we’ll let it build organically as the business comes in.”
Longman indicated that growing the trade business was something he was personally invested in, given his background in distribution. “It’s an area I like, I know something about, and I still have the contacts we can utilise,” he said.
He recognised there was a trust element to overcome because the Audley tailor-made service model meant it was more efficient for Audley’s destination specialists to talk to the client direct, but he gave this assurance: “We will not market directly to an agent’s clients intentionally. We recognise agents have worked hard to build their relationships and we’re not looking to take those over. We’re actually finding when we work in partnership with an agent, our conversion rates are higher.”
“Without a doubt, please come forward if you think your clients would like an Audley holiday,” he urged. “We are keen to hear from you.”