Travel industry doesn’t cater to middle-aged singles
Travel agents are ignoring the middle-aged singles demographic, instead choosing to focus on the younger 18 to 30 singles holidays and family holidays.
A recent survey of 530 men and women between the ages of 31 and 45 showed that many felt they were not catered for.
Of the people surveyed, half said that they would rather stay at home than go on a singles holiday. The typical cheap summer holiday to beach holiday resorts such as Ibiza and Magaluf did not sway the group, who were not interested in getting smashed and hardcore clubbing.
68 per cent of those polled said they would travel if the holiday offered different things which suited their tastes. The slightly more mature crowd preferred sophisticated nightlife which did not necessarily rely on drunken revelry and dancing till the early hours of the morning.
The poll was conducted by digital research consultancy Foviance. The research found that over 70 per cent of those asked were looking for like-minded people to do specific activities with.
50 per cent said they were not necessarily looking for romance and did not want a holiday where engineered romances were pressured. Women sited travel safety as a priority whilst they were on holiday alone.
The online travel industry will get a boost in confidence as 21 per cent of people asked said that websites were their most trusted source of information for choosing a holiday destination. This came a close second, after a quarter of the respondents said friends were their most trusted source.
Consultancy director at Foviance, Marty Carrol said that the travel industry had got the wrong idea, focusing on selling products rather than delivering an interesting customer experience. The result, he said is, “a fragmented product or service experience, delivered to a target audience which has been defined by a marketing tool developed for a market environment that no longer exists.”
Mr Carrol went on to say that companies needed to be more aware of their customers’ wants and desires, in order to create a “real customer experience”. Mr Carrol emphasised that without change, company sales would suffer.
He warned that, “companies that do not evolve and deliver exceptional customer experiences risk losing sales and market share to those who do.”
Travel Industry News posted on 25 November 2008
