“Once someone goes on a coach holiday, it’s likely they’ll be back”, reveals survey
The Coach Tourism Association (CTA) has announced the results of its industry-wide coach holiday survey, which saw a whopping 25,000 respondents.
“This was an incredible number of people to take part in a survey of this type,” says CTA Chief Executive Chris Wales.
Managing Director of ICT, Peter Stratton, presented the results at the CTA’s annual Coach Holiday Conference.
One of the key findings is that once a customer has been on one coach holiday, it’s likely they’ll be back for more: Repeat business is strong, with 92% of existing coach holiday makers saying they are likely to consider using a coach again in the next five years.
Although 20% of the respondents said they had not taken a coach holiday in the last five years, 43% of those aged between 45-64 years old said they were likely to consider it.
The perception about coach holidays among these non-coach holiday makers is found to be positive in several areas: It’s value for money, it takes the hassle out of travel, it’s comfortable, and it’s a sociable and safe way to travel.
All-inclusive coach tours are deemed the most attractive, followed by luxury tours and special interest holidays.
It also found that there is a perception that coach holidays are for older people. Coach tour operators can use this to their advantage by ensuring their strategy focuses on making coach tourism “a natural step” for people as they get older.
“It has provided some really good in-depth research which will help operators, and anyone involved in the coach industry, plan for the future,” adds Mr Wales.
