Summary Report BVI Tourist Board
dda 2008 Market Insight Overview
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Summary Report BVI Tourist Board
Overview of the Travel Market in the UK during 2008 What a difference a year makes. At the beginning of 2008, the forecast for the travel market was very positive with an increase in passengers booking long-haul travel and spending more money to get to that sought after destination. In May, tour operators were arguing that their industry was “recession proof”, with consumers unwilling to cut back on their weeks in the sun, even if it made for belt-tightening elsewhere. By mid-summer we had three major tour operators in administration with several airlines, including Zoom, Futura and business carrier SilverJet, all going out of business. More grim news followed when budget carrier Ryanair reported an 85% fall in first-quarter profit, and British Airways and easyjet both announced management cuts. August saw the demise of the XL Group, the UK’s thirdbiggest travelcompany with up to 85,000 customers stranded in destinations across the globe - things were no longer looking quite so sunny. On a more positive note, by mid December and just in time for the busy Christmas season, Monarch Airlines stepped in to help fill the void in Caribbean flights left by XL Airways’ demise with a new year-round service to Grenada and Tobago. We ended 2008 with major economic downturn, however the long term forecast for UK holidaymakers in the UK & Eire was more encouraging for the long haul luxury travel market and, most importantly, the BVI. Research showed that consumers were opting for a single long-haul break rather than the numerous short-haul breaks of previous years.
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Summary Report BVI Tourist Board
British Airways also confirmed this with reports of its shorthaul numbers decreasing while witnessing growth in the premium holiday industry. Statistics at the end of 2008 showed that long-haul travel had actually increased by 4% and that there had been an Increase in spend on high-end accommodation and localised activities with an average stay increasing to 11 nights. Headlines in the main UK Broadsheets ran the following headline: ‘The prospect recession grips everyone with a feeling of doom and gloom but Brits have a tendency to embrace holidays as a cure to darker moods.’ •The TimesOctober 08
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