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Travel Agents & Overseas Tour Operators Market Report 2007
Key Note Publications Ltd, Nov 2007
In 2006, UK outbound tourism expenditure, excluding expenditure on travel to and from the UK, totalled £34.41bn. Expenditure on domestic tourism, excluding day trips, was considerably lower, at around £21bn. In the same year, the turnover of travel agents and tour operators totalled £18.91bn, equivalent to 34.2% of total tourism expenditure by UK residents.
Although this Market Report deals with the UK market for travel agents and overseas tour operators as a whole, its focus is primarily on those that serve the leisure-travel market.
The UK package-tour market is experiencing a challenge brought about by competition from various quarters. The growth of residential tourism has meant that, rather than take a package tour to a favourite destination, travellers are using scheduled airlines, including services provided by low-cost carriers, to travel to and from their properties, either owned outright or on a timeshare basis. Another challenge is posed by the trend towards independent travel, where travel, accommodation and other services, such as car hire, are booked direct by the traveller, rather than through a travel agent.
The provision of both information and booking services via the Internet represents an even greater challenge to the traditional high-street travel agent, since even where package tours are taken, these can normally be accessed via the Internet, using either the services of a new breed of online travel agent, or the websites of the tour operators themselves. The vulnerability of the retail travel agent to these influences has been reinforced by the policies of the low-cost airlines, many of which will only accept bookings made via the Internet, thereby cutting out the high-street agent.
Over the review period (2002 to 2006), outbound tourism benefited from a number of developments, including the relative health of the UK economy and the accession to the EU of ten states in Eastern and Central Europe, opening up further opportunities for both holiday and business travel to the region. The growth of the low-cost airlines, a favourable exchange rate and the negative image of domestic tourism, as presented by the uncertain weather and some parts of the hotel infrastructure, have also contributed to this relative success.
The problems of the domestic tourism market are largely a mirror image of the outbound sector. In many cases, the cost of a domestic holiday compares unfavourably with that of a holiday abroad, in respect of both travel and accommodation, and the benefit created by a favourable exchange rate.
Prospects for the travel agents and tour operators market over the 5 years from 2007 to 2011 are mixed. The online agency sector is expected to outperform the overall market, with the traditional high-street retailers that do not bring their business methods up to date being likely to fare the worst of all. Tour operators that introduce their own online systems should maintain their position and, if they continue to mount a robust response to the threats they are facing, should remain the largest sector of the UK resident travel market.
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