BVA BDRC have been surveying the consumers’ travel planning and buying behaviour since lockdown and the mood of the nation has stabilized as we are in a ‘wait and see’ position about the easing of the lockdown and shared some of the results with us.
There is a real sense the country is getting through this crisis from the latest BVA BDRC consumer sentiment survey data collected in week 6. But, expectations for when we will travel on holiday are again are being pushed back, at the realization that social distancing regulations are likely to be in force for many months to come.
Fewer people are planning to proceed with current bookings and more are saying they have been cancelled and they have not committed to re-booking. Week by week the prospects for the summer tourism season are softening, definitely for international travel, and now even for domestic travel although this still is seen as being more likely to be possible. 1 in 10 are expecting to plan a trip before the summer. With holiday and hotel planning and booking horizons on average being around 6 months from now, BVA BDRC continue to foresee considerable demand from UK consumers for winter sun holidays in the 2020/21 season.
Amongst all of this “New Normal” we are of course still leaving Europe in January, hopefully we will have visited over the summer and Christmas before January!
The free to download wave 6 report was published towards the end of Friday 01 May