Just released last week in London, The Kuoni Worldwide Trends Report 2016 offers some interesting insights for travel sellers from the USA—it remains the number six overseas market for Kuoni’s upscale products—especially those interested in tapping into the operator’s lucrative UK honeymoon market. We’ve taken the key points from the Trends Report section on honeymoons and highlighted them here.
Most important is what the Kuoni report has to say about the honeymoon market overall: “Over the past five years, we’ve seen the number of honeymoons with an exploration, adventure element grow at twice the pace of a stay-put beach honeymoon. Couples want to use the opportunity of a honeymoon to create the holiday of a lifetime and ensure they get the immersive experience they are after.”
Underscoring the upscale signature to the company’s brand is its partnership with the upscale, nationwide John Lewis department store brand. The retailer is managed by a trust on behalf of its employees (“partners”), who are—they are, to say the very least, encouraged to travel—given very generous holidays. For instance, upon completing 25 years of service for the company, they are given a paid six-month break, known as “Long Leave.”
Features of the UK Honeymoon Market—Kuoni Style
| Kuoni Honeymoon Market Feature | Answer |
|---|---|
| Percentage of all Kuoni bookings that comprise the honeymoon market | 22% |
| Average spend on a Kuoni honeymoon | £2951 ($4,280) per person |
| Most popular month to book a Kuoni honeymoon | January |
| Percentage of bookings made by honeymooners at Kuonis John Lewis Oxford Street location | 42% |
| Average duration of a honeymoon booking | 13 days |
| Majority of honeymooners make their booking this far out | 10 months |
| Number of experts Kuoni has on hand to offer advice on booking LGBT holidays, including same-sex honeymoons. | 10 |
| **Through Kuoni, customers can add a honeymoon or holiday to a John Lewis gift list. In 2015, 11.6 percent of the companys honeymoon bookers did so. | |
| Source: Kuoni Worldwide Trends Report 2016 |
Kuoni UK’s Top 20 Honeymoon Destinations 2016
- Maldives
- Indonesia (Bali)
- Mauritius
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- USA
- Italy
- Mexico
- Antigua
- St Lucia
- Vietnam
- Malaysia
- Seychelles
- Tanzania
- Cuba
- Barbados
- South Africa
- Kenya
- Greece
- UAE
And a Helicopter Flight over the Grand Canyon, too: Increasingly, Kuoni said it is seeing “wish list” experiences driving demand for travel, particularly honeymoons. According to a YouGov poll commissioned by Kuoni last month, more than 60 per cent of British adults surveyed say that they would be willing to pay more for a wish list experience in comparison to a typical holiday. The wish list from the survey includes just one experience in the USA (See No. 3).
- 1 Travel on the Venice-Simplon Orient Express
- Diving in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
- Helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon
- See the Great Pyramids of Egypt
- Walk the Great Wall of China
- Go whale watching
- Dive with turtles in the Maldives
- See Orangutans in Borneo
- Trek the Inca Trail in Peru
- See gorillas in Rwanda
Source: YouGov poll of over 2000 adults, January 2016
