New research from ABTA shows the UK’s confidence to travel overseas continues to rise
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dhewitt@abta.co.uk Thu, 10/02/2025 - 12:09
The latest results from ABTA’s annual Travel Confidence Index1, now in its third year, show the UK is feeling even more confident about travelling overseas.
The Index reveals a score of +53 for the UK population overall2; up 6 points compared with last year, and up 12 points since ABTA introduced the index in 2023.
How people booked and travelled significantly affects how confident they feel, with those who booked with a travel professional remaining very confident at +78 (up six points from +72 last year) and those who took a package holiday in the past year returning an even higher score of +80 (up six points from +74).
It's younger people where the Travel Confidence Index has increased the most – among 18–24-year-olds, it’s up nine points from +48 to +57, and among 25–34-year-olds it’s up 19 points from +60 to +79.
25-34-year-olds (+79), and 35-44-year-olds (+64) are now the most confident and well above the overall index score of +53. In addition to this, families’ confidence increased to +71. At the other end of the scale, the 65+ age group, while having the lowest confidence, still has a positive score of +33 overall, up from +26 in 2024.
When it comes to the areas that travel companies should focus on to build consumer confidence to travel, helping customers get the correct documents for travel (eg valid passport or visa) continues to be the most important area, with this rated ‘essential’ by 68% of respondents.
This was followed in priority by being able to get home if their travel company goes bust (rated essential by 56%), knowing the total price in advance (54%), taking out travel insurance ( 53%), and having financial protection (in case my travel company goes bust) (50%) – highlighting the importance of reassuring customers on these points during the booking process or in marketing activity.
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive, ABTA – The Travel Association, said:
“A core purpose of ABTA is to help people travel with confidence. We introduced the Travel Confidence Index both to help our understanding of consumer sentiment in travel and to identify the most effective actions that the industry can take collectively to build consumer confidence – so, it’s really encouraging to see that the UK’s overall confidence to travel overseas continues its upwards trend.
“It’s also reassuring to see that booking with an ABTA member continues to be rated essential or important by 75% of people to give them confidence to travel. This is testament to the work of ABTA members in making sure their customers are advised, informed and prepared to have an amazing holiday.”
The Travel Confidence Index is available to read in full here. It will also be part of ABTA’s Holiday Habits 2025-26 report which will be released during ABTA’s 2025 Travel Convention in Calvià Mallorca from 6-8 October.
About the research
1Statistics are from ABTA’s annual Holiday Habits survey, carried out each summer by The Nursery Research and Planning (www.the-nursery.net) with a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults. The 2025 survey took place between 21st July and 1st August.
2The Travel Confidence Index scores are calculated by asking all respondents to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how confident they are currently feeling about taking an overseas holiday, with 1 being not confident at all and 10 being extremely confident. Excluding those who rate their confidence levels as neutral (5 to 6 out of 10), the scores are calculated by taking away the percentage of those with low confidence levels (1 to 4) from the percentage of those with high confidence levels (7 to 10).
This year, the overall score of +53 is calculated by taking away the 17% of respondents who said they had low confidence levels (1-4) from the 70% of respondents who said they had high confidence levels (7-10).
ABTA is a trade association for UK travel agents, tour operators and the wider travel industry. We’re the largest travel trade body, with over 4,300 travel brands in membership who have a combined annual UK turnover of £40 billion. We work closely with our members to help raise and maintain standards and build a more sustainable travel industry, and provide travellers with advice, guidance and support.
Our members sign up to a code of conduct and commit to agreed service standards and fair trading. When you need clear travel information, and accurate and impartial advice relating to your trip, we’re here for you. When you book with an ABTA member, reliable advice comes as standard. This means that booking with our members brings peace of mind.
All this together means we help you travel with confidence. www.abta.com
Continue reading...
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dhewitt@abta.co.uk Thu, 10/02/2025 - 12:09
- ABTA 2025 Travel Confidence Index is +53, a six-point increase year-on-year
- Younger adults’ confidence increases the most, well above the average
- Support from a travel professional provides far above average confidence
The latest results from ABTA’s annual Travel Confidence Index1, now in its third year, show the UK is feeling even more confident about travelling overseas.
The Index reveals a score of +53 for the UK population overall2; up 6 points compared with last year, and up 12 points since ABTA introduced the index in 2023.
How people booked and travelled significantly affects how confident they feel, with those who booked with a travel professional remaining very confident at +78 (up six points from +72 last year) and those who took a package holiday in the past year returning an even higher score of +80 (up six points from +74).
It's younger people where the Travel Confidence Index has increased the most – among 18–24-year-olds, it’s up nine points from +48 to +57, and among 25–34-year-olds it’s up 19 points from +60 to +79.
25-34-year-olds (+79), and 35-44-year-olds (+64) are now the most confident and well above the overall index score of +53. In addition to this, families’ confidence increased to +71. At the other end of the scale, the 65+ age group, while having the lowest confidence, still has a positive score of +33 overall, up from +26 in 2024.
When it comes to the areas that travel companies should focus on to build consumer confidence to travel, helping customers get the correct documents for travel (eg valid passport or visa) continues to be the most important area, with this rated ‘essential’ by 68% of respondents.
This was followed in priority by being able to get home if their travel company goes bust (rated essential by 56%), knowing the total price in advance (54%), taking out travel insurance ( 53%), and having financial protection (in case my travel company goes bust) (50%) – highlighting the importance of reassuring customers on these points during the booking process or in marketing activity.
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive, ABTA – The Travel Association, said:
“A core purpose of ABTA is to help people travel with confidence. We introduced the Travel Confidence Index both to help our understanding of consumer sentiment in travel and to identify the most effective actions that the industry can take collectively to build consumer confidence – so, it’s really encouraging to see that the UK’s overall confidence to travel overseas continues its upwards trend.
“It’s also reassuring to see that booking with an ABTA member continues to be rated essential or important by 75% of people to give them confidence to travel. This is testament to the work of ABTA members in making sure their customers are advised, informed and prepared to have an amazing holiday.”
The Travel Confidence Index is available to read in full here. It will also be part of ABTA’s Holiday Habits 2025-26 report which will be released during ABTA’s 2025 Travel Convention in Calvià Mallorca from 6-8 October.
Notes to editors
About the research
1Statistics are from ABTA’s annual Holiday Habits survey, carried out each summer by The Nursery Research and Planning (www.the-nursery.net) with a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults. The 2025 survey took place between 21st July and 1st August.
2The Travel Confidence Index scores are calculated by asking all respondents to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how confident they are currently feeling about taking an overseas holiday, with 1 being not confident at all and 10 being extremely confident. Excluding those who rate their confidence levels as neutral (5 to 6 out of 10), the scores are calculated by taking away the percentage of those with low confidence levels (1 to 4) from the percentage of those with high confidence levels (7 to 10).
This year, the overall score of +53 is calculated by taking away the 17% of respondents who said they had low confidence levels (1-4) from the 70% of respondents who said they had high confidence levels (7-10).
About ABTA
ABTA is a trade association for UK travel agents, tour operators and the wider travel industry. We’re the largest travel trade body, with over 4,300 travel brands in membership who have a combined annual UK turnover of £40 billion. We work closely with our members to help raise and maintain standards and build a more sustainable travel industry, and provide travellers with advice, guidance and support.
Our members sign up to a code of conduct and commit to agreed service standards and fair trading. When you need clear travel information, and accurate and impartial advice relating to your trip, we’re here for you. When you book with an ABTA member, reliable advice comes as standard. This means that booking with our members brings peace of mind.
All this together means we help you travel with confidence. www.abta.com
Continue reading...
