Silver Travel Advisor, an award-winning reviews website aimed at mature travellers, has released its findings from a survey about the affect of Coronavirus on future travel.
Some Figures
Surveying over 800 travellers aged 50+, they found that more than half (52%) have not been financially affected by the lockdown. Another 30% are being more cautious but haven’t felt the effects too badly.
Of all those surveyed, approximately a third thought they would book a holiday within 6-12 months, with 67% planning to book a UK holiday.
In one question, participants were asked if they felt they were ‘losing time’ by not being able to travel right now, with 53% answering yes. One person commented:
I’m going to treasure my holidays even more now.
It’s good news for UK tourism going forward, though the journey there will still be difficult. Older travellers are important to the industry and the fact that the majority are still keen to travel – some more so than they were – means there is the opportunity for strong recovery.
Start Planning
Now is the time to start planning your marketing strategy. Although the situation is still unclear, the lockdown won’t last forever and, if you work in the tourism industry, you want to ensure that, when people can travel again, you are there in the forefront of their minds.
These numbers not only provide some positive news, but they offer some clues to what you can do with your marketing strategy.
As people feel they are missing out by being unable to travel, encourage them to take the opportunities that you can offer. Excite and enthuse your customers:
- Show them what they can gain from travelling to your attraction, holiday cottage, or bed and breakfast.
- Demonstrate how you can help them have an amazing experience
- Build trust by being friendly and helpful and by going that extra mile.
Other Travellers
If your target audience isn’t older travellers, then don’t worry. Younger travellers – those in their 20s and early 30s – are more likely to be making plans for future travel NOW. Pinterest is a fantastic place to catch this age group, who use the social media site to research destinations and to plan holidays.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, if you work in the tourism industry, this will have provided some positive reading and given you something to look forward to. Here are some final thoughts from those who were surveyed:
“Holidays are a very important part of my life.“
“Covid-19 is not the end. I will travel again.“
“Feel optimistic that everything will bounce back and people will be raring to go.”
You can read the full survey here.
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