One third of Brits have changed their travel plans due to the fear of terrorism, according to a poll of 2,000 British holidaymakers. Released last week, the results of the survey research—it was conducted by World Travel Market—also show the following.

In a separate question, 58 percent of holidaymakers said they believe that there is still a distinct lack of travel advice on where is safe to go and don’t believe there is enough information available.

From Survey Two: Trump is not a factor in Brits’ choice of the most desired destination.

North America tops a list of overseas regions Britons most want to visit despite the “Trump factor.” Almost a quarter of people said that a trip to the U.S. would be their top travel destination if cost was not an issue, according to a new poll by the research and marketing firm Starcom. (The second most desired region was Oceania and Australia followed by Europe, Asia and South America.) Other survey findings:

—Flight delays emerged as the biggest holiday frustration, cited by 53 percent of people, followed by illness, insect bites, sunburn and accommodation transfers.

—The average person goes away twice a year at a cost of £1,347.33 ($1,747.55) representing around 5 percent of the average UK salary.

—But almost a third of consumers (29 percent) do not save up beforehand despite spending £137 billion ($177.7 billion) on holidays a year.

—Those from the UK’s West Midlands are the least daring travelers with almost a third (32 percent) preferring to visit somewhere they have been to before.

—The most adventurous British travelers come from the North East of England and Wales, with 74 percent and 73 percent, respectively, preferring to go somewhere new, followed by those living in Northern Ireland and London.

—At the other end of the scale a small number of respondents (3 percent) admitted they like to take breaks solely so that “they can show off on social media”.

—The research also found the average person has been to 10 countries, with nearly two thirds (63 percent) choosing to go somewhere new over a place previously visited.

—More than half of the 2,000 people surveyed said they go away on holiday to “escape day-to-day life and experience new cultures.”

 

Last year provided travel companies with enough reasons to report flat or weak performances: a U.S. Presidential election, the vote by Britons to pull the UK out of the European Union and terrorist attacks in different parts of the world, but they did not seem to have a dramatic impact on the companies that make up the new 2017 Travel Weekly Power List, the annual ranking of travel companies with travel sales of $100 million or more. The 2017 list’s rankings are based on 2016 business volume.

—Overall, the list suggests that the travel sector has performed better than the U.S. economy as a whole. For instance, the top three companies on the list of 59 travel companies (Expedia, Priceline Group and American Express Global Business Travel) increased the amount of business they conducted from 2015 to 2016 by 17 percent—from $146.3 billion to $171.6 billion.

—The blurring of the line between B2B, B2C, inbound and outbound is underscored by the prominence of three major U.S.-based agencies of large Japanese companies on the list: JTB Americas (No. 18); H.I.S. USA (No. 31); and Kintetsu International Express (No. 41). Together, these three Japanese companies did more than $2.07 billion in business in the U.S. due to the fact that they all sell outbound to Japan as well as service inbound through their parent companies.

Other observations about the list, as reported by Travel Weekly, include the following:

—While most companies reported year-on-year increases in business, some companies pointed to outside forces as causing declines. For instance, the Appointment Group, headquartered in the UK, reported its global turnover was “adjusted by $25 million due to Brexit, which resulted in significant fluctuations in currency exchange rates over our two largest markets.”

—For the most part, Power List companies signaled optimism through their extensive investments in technology, expansion and people. And to a certain extent, upheaval in global politics and market changes can have a positive impact on travel agencies: As travel gets more complicated, their expertise will be more valuable than ever.

—Both Expedia and Priceline grew without major acquisitions; other Power List entries did grow through acquisition.  Corporate Travel Management completed the acquisition of two previous listees: Travizon Group and Montrose Travel. Direct Travel acquired Traveline, which has been on the list in the past.

—Travel Leaders Group made a significant investment in CruCon, which is becoming part of Travel Leaders (although it’s too early to determine how that might affect CruCon’s future on the list).

Smaller companies also grew through acquisition. For example, Christopherson Andavo Travel acquired three nonlisted agencies: Salt Lake Travel Service in Utah, Dynamic Travel in Colorado and CV Humanitarian Travel in Alabama.

—Rovia and Small World Travel are new listees, while Quality Reward Travel returns after a two-year absence.

 —Some companies continue to do well by specializing. That includes a couple of agencies that are the subjects of separate profiles. Small World Vacations overwhelmingly sells one brand as its name suggests (that brand is Disney) while Creative Lodging Solutions handles lodging for its clients.

Travel Weekly Power List 2017

* Full time and part time employees

** Full time employees and hosted commission agents

† Travel agency employees (full-time equivalents)

†† Plus 830 independent contractors

ᴬ Plus 135 independent contractors

ᴮ More than 600 independent contractors

ᴰ Full-time employees/hosted agents

ᴱ Plus 276 hosted agents

ᴳ Plus 28 contracted service and support providers

ᴴ Plus 40 commissioned agents

ᴶ Plus 2,323 commissioned agents

ᴸ Plus four part-time employees

 

Travel Weekly’s Methodology

—To qualify for the Power List, a company had to have a minimum of $100 million in sales in 2016. For purposes of this survey, sales are defined as gross sales of travel products worldwide, whether to consumers or to corporate travelers; the company must be the merchant of record on the transaction from a supplier’s perspective. At least 15 percent of the sales volume must have been generated in the U.S.

—Early this year, the questionnaire was sent to roughly 70 companies that had appeared on the list in previous years; had been in the news because of acquisitions or had grown for other reasons; or had contacted Travel Weekly believing they qualified.

—As has been the case for years, Travel Weekly requested that gross sales volume be certified by a company’s owner, CEO or CFO. In a small number of cases, certification was made by an executive at the vice president level but with financial oversight.

—In one case, BCD Travel, sales totals are based on publicly disclosed information because the company did not respond to the survey.

—Several companies that may have qualified opted not to participate. They include Adtrav and Loyalty Travel; both have appeared on the list in the past.

—While all cooperating listees did certify sales (or made them public), it must be kept in mind that even those numbers are difficult to verify because the great majority of travel sellers are privately held and under no obligation to disclose financial data. Also, there is no commonly accepted standard for calculating sales volume, and there is no clearinghouse in the U.S. that tracks nonairline sales, as ARC does for airline sales.

—Where possible, Travel Weekly sought to confirm accuracy in the figures by referring to other data and to articles published in the past year. We also reviewed responses for consistency and used whatever resources we had at our disposal to ensure accuracy.

—The survey on which these rankings were based also included questions involving sales figures, ARC sales, travel-related subsidiaries, percentage of sales from business and leisure, corporate structure and others.

 If you want to compare this year’s list with Travel Weekly’s 2016 Power List, click on:

https://www.inboundreport.com/?s=Travel+Weekly+Power+List

 

 

And other Verities of the UK Market: A new and expansive report by Thomas Cook which tells us that Orlando is the top long-haul destination for British travelers on vacation also details today’s five categories and seven ages of travelers, as well as a host of other details in between that help to make selling to the UK, which is still the number one overseas source market for inbound travel to the USA, at least a few percentage points easier.

One of the points that stand out—there are more than a few—is that more than a fifth of a key demo (the 25-to-34 year-old age group) don’t start planning and researching their holiday until three weeks out. Some of the more useful info bytes in the Thomas Cook Holiday Report 2017 follow.†

• The long-haul market continues to grow in popularity. Despite some fearing a ‘Trump slump’, bookings to the US are good and even compared to a particularly strong 2016, it is the fourth most popular destination with bookings up 10 percent for summer ‘17. Flight-only bookings to Boston have increased 116 percent year-on-year, while “La La Land” (Los Angeles) has seen a 33 percent increase.

• Parents are also doing their bit to boost long-haul destinations and they’re taking the kids to destinations you might not expect. Having travelled abroad with the kids since they were very little, they’re now happy to expand their horizons and travel further afield.

• Summer 2018 holidays launched in March; the sales to date show the same top four compared to summer 2017 sales this time last year. Bigger trips, like Orlando, take a lot of planning so it’s no surprise that holidaymakers want to get this booked early so they can save for theme park tickets.

 

Top Destinations for 2018

Note: The top four are the same top destinations for 2017.

• Although a proportion of holidaymakers without kids do book last minute, particularly the Independents, perhaps more than you think are planning ahead. In fact 37 percent of those with children left booking their main overseas holiday until a month or less before departure, compared with 23 percent of those without children. Do parents have less time to plan than their child-free peers?

• Planning a holiday is something families do together. 75 percent of parents ask for their children’s opinion when planning a holiday and 85 percent of kids suggest places they’d like to go.

 

• Timing is Everything I: January is still the peak month for holiday bookings – almost one in five of Thomas Cook’s package holidays are booked during the first month of the year. Not only does everyone want to get Christmas out of the way before thinking about their next trip away, but tour operators also respond with early booking offers and advertising. Are the deals driving the bookings?

 

 

• Timing is Everything II: Time spent searching for holidays slowly gives way to time spent actually booking them and transactions overtake searches around 5pm, before peaking between 8-10 pm. Is it a coincidence that this is the time when you are most likely to have a glass of wine in your hand?

 

 

Here are the seven ages of holiday that Thomas Cook thinks everyone is likely to take in their lifetime:

A Note on the Numbers: The majority of statistics in the Thomas Cook Holiday Report, unless stated otherwise, are based on UK tour operator and flight-only bookings up until May 2, 2017 and a survey of 2,635 UK customers in April and May 2017.