Agents told to get web savvy

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28/04/2006

Agents told to get web savvy

We’re taking shorter holidays more often and we’re “enthusiastically embracing the internet” to plan for our holidays, according to a study from research company ACNielsen.

The company’s latest online Omnibus study, which surveyed 1025 Australians, found the traditional four-week annual holiday was in demise, with Aussie travellers preferring to take several short breaks during the year.

It also found Australians were “enthusiastically embracing” the Internet to plan and book their holidays, leading ACNielsen to call on travel agents to become more web savvy to compete.

Only 8per cent of respondents said they relied solely on their travel agent to make their travel arrangements and bookings. A total of 45 per cent used both the internet and their agent, while 42 per cent were happy to make all their plans online without the help from an agent.

Paul Vittles, director public enterprise at ACNielsen, described the trend as an “opportunity” for agents rather than a threat, claiming they had to position their own websites as the “channel of choice for holidaymakers for information and bookings”.

“It’s critical that travel agents structure themselves around customers and convince their clients that they are best placed to support their holiday research as well as unearth the best deals,” he said.

Men are more likely than women to use the internet to book their holiday (47 per cent), compared to just a third of women surveyed (36 per cent).

For more than one third (37 per cent) of Australians, short breaks are becoming the norm, while only 34 per cent said they are likely to take one or two longer breaks during the year.

“Today the traditional Aussie holiday is just as likely to involve a couple of long weekends away combined with a few one or two week holidays throughout the year,” Vittles added.

28 April 2006

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