An analysis of summer sun tourists - outbound package holidays ...

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Summer Sun Tourism 109 which they were travelling, while 11.0% had been there only once before. It suggests that there is considerable fluidity at the level of the individual with regard to choice of resort. This might seem to contradict the perceived image of the package holiday-maker as being conservative and the fact that the range of destinations of Irish air-charter traffic has not changed dramatically over the years (Gillmor, 1996). The implication may be, however, that while there is a tendency to return to the same destination areas and the same types of resort, individuals do not tend to return to the same resorts. The fortnight package was the standard holiday, with 80.7% of respondents embarking on a holiday of two weeks duration and 14.3% staying away for one week only. The most common type of accommodation involved in the package was a self-catering apartment (63.0%) while 26.7% of respondents were staying in a hotel. Other types of accommodation mentioned included bed and breakfast establishments and guesthouses. One-third of respondents reported that their holiday had been sold with at least one extra feature. These included the provision of certain meals, free excursions, transfers to/from Dublin Airport, a hire car, sports facilities and vouchers for free drinks. The mean reported total cost of the holiday was IR£418 with a standard deviation of IR£112; the mean cost per day was IR£33.26 with a standard deviation of IR£12.65. Table 2: Number of respondents travelling to each destination. Destination Number % Canaries 47 15.7 Greece 44 14.7 Balearics 1 36 12.0 Portugal 30 10.0 Turkey 2 27 9.0 Cyprus 2 20 6.7 Bulgaria 3 18 6.0 Florida 4 18 6.0 Spain (mainland) 1 12 4.0 Morocco 3 12 4.0 Tunisia 3 11 3.7 Malta 4 10 3.3 Jersey 4 7 2.3 Other destinations 4 8 2.7 Total 300 100.0 Note: For the purposes of hypothesis testing, destinations with the same superscript were amalgamated. Booking the Holiday Booking through a travel agent accounted for 83.7% of all holidays, while the remaining 16.3% had been booked direct with the tour operator. This underlines the importance of the travel agent as an intermediary within the package holiday industry; there are sales outlets throughout the country offering a wide range of holiday products. Yet, it is the tour operators, and especially the large ones, which determine the holidays on offer; 73.8% of all holidays recorded in the survey were organised by the four largest operators and subsequent takeovers mean that two British-owned companies now control over 80% of the Irish air-charter summer holiday market. The length of time elapsing between booking the holiday and departing ranged from seven months to one week, with a modal value of five months and a mean of 3.18 months. The data indicate that, while the majority booked a considerable period in advance, there was also a significant minority who booked just prior to departure. The results suggest that the release of brochures had a significant impact on booking patterns; the
110 Corcoran, Gillmor and Killen summer sun package holiday brochures were released on the Irish market in January and many people made their holiday decisions immediately afterwards. There were varied responses to a question asking why the holiday was booked when it was. A statement simply that the holiday was booked as soon as the decision to take it had been made was given by 58.3% of respondents, generally with the objective of securing the preferred holiday. Price considerations and/or the availability of special offers had caused 25.3% of respondents to book the holiday when they did. This suggests that these types of incentive are indeed important tools which can be used by the tour operators to secure bookings. In recent years, special offers relating to reservations before certain dates have been made by some operators; a midnight sale by one of the biggest companies led to overloading and breakdown of its large computer system in January 1995. A pattern of always booking the holiday at the same time each year was reported by 14.0% of respondents. The time of booking depends in part on the character of the individual tourist, ranging from the “meticulous planner” who has a long horizon to the “impulse buyer” who is attracted by cut-price late availabilities (Goodall, 1988). The Holiday Choice Process For most respondents, the opportunity set from which their particular package holiday was selected would have consisted of those packages available on the Irish market and for some it would have been limited to those offered by one or a very small number of tour operators (Stabler, 1991). On being asked the reasons why they had chosen the particular holiday upon which they were embarking, a wide range of responses was given (Table 3). Table 3: Reasons cited for choosing a particular summer sun package holiday. Reason Percentage citing this reason Respondent related Recommended 35.3 Somewhere different 23.0 Been before 22.0 Operator related Available 23.6 Price/Special offer 11.3 Brochure 9.3 Destination related Facilities/Atmosphere 29.6 Weather 19.6 Cultural and other sights 4.0 Journey related Flight time 5.0 Tranfer time 1.6 Other 5.0 Note: Due to multiple answers being given, the percentage figures sum to in excess of 100. First, the importance of a personal recommendation, whether from friends and relatives or from a member of the travel trade can be seen. Personal preferences were obviously important too; while some respondents cited familiarity with an area as a reason for returning there, an almost equal percentage cited as a positive factor the fact that the chosen holiday was to a different area or resort. The crucial role of the tour operator can be seen in the frequency with which availability and price, including special offers, were mentioned as being
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