Trust is becoming less of a barrier to online trading in the travel space, with the majority of Australians confident booking and planning online via established travel brands, according to a new study from custom research agency TNS.
Director of Travel and Leisure research at TNS, Carolyn Childs, said consumers initially went online for cost and convenience reasons, and that trust issues associated with online trading were no longer an issue – at least for strong travel brands.
“The incentive to use online is cost and price savings, and with consumers becoming more comfortable and experienced booking online we can expect to see more travellers opting to do it themselves.”
One in two Australians agreed that the only reason they book online is that it is cheaper, but many consumers also felt that travel information online is more reliable than offline these days (30%) and that the service of online travel companies was as good as traditional travel agents (27%).
“There is a clear indication that consumers expect online to be cheaper – they expect to share in the savings companies reap from conducting business online,” said Childs.
“While more are happy with the service and reliability of online travel brands than in the past, there are many more yet to be convinced. This represents an opportunity for both the bricks and mortar as well as the online operators, as trust is going to remain a highly contested space in the short term. In Europe, we have seen reliability issues following bankruptcies and payouts as a result of the Ash Cloud creating a more dynamic environment with some evidence of a gain for traditional agents.”
|
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Total agree
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Neutral/don’t know
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Total disagree
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The service of online travel companies is still not as good as traditional travel agents
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24%
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49%
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27%
|
|
The only reason I book online is that it is cheaper
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48%
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33%
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18%
|
|
Travel information online is more reliable than offline these days
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30%
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54%
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17%
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|
Booking travel online is really only for experienced travellers
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17%
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35%
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48%
|
Q: Please indicate to what extent you agree with each of the following statements about online travel?
“What we’re seeing though is that digital is for everyone these days, particularly for bookings of lesser complexity and where the purchase is not as large.
”Relatively few across male, female and different age groups agree that booking online is only for experienced travelers, positively positioning online trading for future growth.”
“When we asked consumers to name leaders in online and mobile technologies for planning travel, we found the established brands (both offline and online) were the ones coming through.
“Consolidators and online travel agents (OTAs) (52%) and traditional travel agents (51%) emerged as the strongest groups with airlines (34%) following as a close third.
The consolidator/ OTA space is led by Webjet and Wotif and characterised by a fragmented list of followers who’ve had some success but are struggling to differentiate themselves in a cluttered market.
The online presence of traditional travel agents was led by Flight Centre and Harvey World Travel, with a handful of others receiving a limited number of mentions as a leading operator online.
Q2. When thinking about leaders in the internet and other mobile technologies for planning travel, what travel companies/ travel brands come to mind?
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Consolidators/ OTAs
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52%
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Travel agents
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51%
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Airlines
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34%
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Other
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12%
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Webjet
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31%
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Flight Centre
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39%
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Qantas
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22%
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Google
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5%
|
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Wotif
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17%
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Harvey World
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12%
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Jetstar
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11%
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Lonely Planet
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3%
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|
Lastminute.com
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8%
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Jetset
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4%
|
Virgin
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14%
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TripAdvisor
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3%
|
|
Expedia
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6%
|
STA travel
|
4%
|
Tiger
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2%
|
Motoring org’s
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3%
|
|
Zuji
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5%
|
Student flights
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3%
|
|
|
Contiki
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2%
|
|
Bestflights.com
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2%
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Escape Travel
|
2%
|
|
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P&O
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2%
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|
HotelClub
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2%
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Travel world
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2%
|
|
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Destination sites
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2%
|
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travel.com
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2%
|
|
|
|
|
|
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The leaders in online travel: operators who were top of mind for at least 2% of Aus population.
“The results highlighted the importance of brand and the importance of being among the first to market in the online space.
“In theory the internet creates an open playing field, but in practice trust is more important when you can’t see the other person – leveraging or building brand equity is the key to building trust online.
“Brand is even more important online; in order for customers to enter their credit card details into cyber space, they must have trust in the brand they’re interacting with.
“The traders that have secured the trust of their customer base, have the opportunity to try and move people up the value chain and away from the perception that online prices must be cheap.
“However brands choose to tackle the challenge of digital engagement, they need to consider the best way of incorporating an online presence into their marketing mix. We don’t necessarily need to be tied to the digital approach; it’s about marketing in the digital age, not just digital marketing."
About TNS
As a global custom research agency with over 40 years in the Australian market, TNS delivers customised research and consultancy with deep understanding of local markets. The company is divided into specialist teams, focusing on consumer, technology, finance and business, social research (government and NGOS), and travel and leisure industry sectors. TNS is the largest custom research agency globally and in Australia, and a WPP group company.
Media enquiries: Contact Chris Byrne (02) 9563 4232 or chris.byrne@tns-global.com
For more research and opinion from our industry experts, visit our blog at www.sixthsenseinsights.com.au or follow us on twitter – www.twitter.com.au/tns_aus
TNS’ Digital Travel Study was conducted in April and July with 1,000 Australians per wave.
