Agents still vital for holiday bookings

Travel agents are deemed the most important booking channel when planning a holiday, an Arabian Travel News survey has revealed.

However, online booking channels are growing in popularity and agents are missing out on opportunities to sell specialist holidays and value-adds such as car rental and travel insurance, according to the results of the ATN Leisure Travel Survey.

The study, which was conducted earlier this year on ArabianBusiness.com and via ATN's e-newsletter, attracted more than 200 respondents, the majority of whom were expatriates living in the Middle East.

The survey revealed that 51% booked their leisure travel with a travel agent followed by 35.5% online and 13% direct with the hotel or airline. However, 61% said they would be more likely to book with a tour operator that is part of a major airline (such as Emirates Holidays) than with a travel agent.

In addition, online bookings outweighed travel agent bookings when it came to booking value-added products - 26% booked car rental online compared to 24% with a travel agent, while 40% said they would definitely book additional products if a travel agent sold them better and 49% said maybe they would.

Not one respondent said they wouldn't.

Meanwhile 40% of those surveyed said it was important to be offered tours and excursions when booking a holiday and 31% said the same for travel insurance.

In terms of what respondents most looked for in a destination, 40% said relaxation, followed by adventure at 21.5%, while 42.5% said the specialist holiday they were most likely to book was a cruise.

Spa and wellness holidays also fared well at 18.5%, but was usurped by the desire for an adventure holiday (23%).

Interestingly, the specialist holiday that respondents said they were least likely to book was a golf holiday (22.5%) followed by a cruise (21%) while only 4.5% said they would select an eco-tourism holiday.

Around 34.5% of respondents said they took two holidays per year and 41% said they travelled for two weeks when taking the main holiday of the year.