11 October 2009

Stats, Statements & Staycations!

We are extremely excited about 2010 - not least because we are working with several new partner companies in other parts of the UK. Next year, our clients will also benefit considerably from the many new high-footfall display sites (some of them exclusive to LDS) secured over the past few months.

As you all know, in addition to our long-established brochure marketing facilities, we now offer Social Media packages - however, we are also on the verge of announcing the launch of a brand new service that will propel LDS Tourism to the forefront of 21st century marketing techniques. All will be revealed very soon!

Continuing the theme of our last article, a recent poll by Which? Holiday has shown that one of the biggest complaints of holidaymakers is that visitor attractions are often overcrowded, badly managed or have long queues. The consumer study also showed airport congestion at the top of the list of frustrations experienced by travellers. Nevertheless, of the 5,003 consumers surveyed, more than half (53%) had no frustrations with any aspect of their holiday, and for those who holidayed in the UK, the satisfaction level increased by 60%.

Even more encouraging are reports from Hoseasons that advance bookings for 2010 are up 61% to 100,000, compared with the same period last year. The Company’s chief executive, Richard Carrick, commented last week that there has been “a seismic change in consumer behaviour, with people spending less and choosing to holiday in the UK”. Indeed, he says that next year, “Hoseasons will sell one million sports and activity holidays with 140 of its 440 holiday parks offering those types of breaks.”

VisitEngland has also published figures showing that domestic trips were up by 14 per cent, or 2.7m, for the first six months of 2009, compared with the same period last year.

Perhaps the UK ‘staycation’ really is here to stay!

A brief reminder to anyone with Christmas and/or New Year literature: your leaflets should be out there, on display, right now. Don’t miss out on promoting your festive event or offer by delaying distribution a moment longer!

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

I would agree with the UK holidaying trend, especially the Hoseasons stats as we are the biggest supplier of affiliate bookings to Hoseasons and have seen these stats at first hand!

You may be interested in the alternative version of the american word Staycation with is our UK word Britpacking! See http://www.britpacking.co.uk

Paula Bardell-Hedley said...

Many thanks for the link, Marcus. I like the sound of Britpacking - I'll definitely use it in future! -- Paula