Inghams says skiers are looking for cheaper winter resorts this year compared to last season when they splurged on far flung holidays, such as Canada.
Marketing Director Anne Williams said demand has shifted to European resorts that are perceived to offer better value.
Speaking at the ABTA Travel Trends conference, Anne said: “Straight out of the pandemic there was a surge towards further flung destinations such as Canada, there was a lot of desire to spend money that people couldn’t spend during COVID.
“Now there is a shift towards more perceived value destinations, so there has been a shift towards France and Italy.”
Anne said booking patterns have also shifted, with customers waiting longer to lock down a ski holiday. “Where we would normally see a surge in September, that surge didn’t come in the same level as we expected it to.
“The snow last year has made people a little bit more hesitant,” she added. “There seems to be a trend towards people waiting four to six weeks out.”
As a result, Anne said Inghams is ‘being more agile’ with its marketing spend, so that it can respond to demand rather than pre-planning activity based on previous booking patterns.
The surge in bookings for bucket-list trips, such as Santa’s Lapland and the Northern Lights, has died down, but Anne said it had ‘remained steady’.
However, Inghams is seeing growing demand for summer walking holidays, especially from younger clientele.
“We are definitely seeing a new audience coming to us to get outdoors,” she said. “They don’t necessarily want hardcore A to B walking holidays, but this was always a 65-plus market, now the age is coming down to people in their 40s and 50s.”
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Marketing Director Anne Williams said demand has shifted to European resorts that are perceived to offer better value.
Speaking at the ABTA Travel Trends conference, Anne said: “Straight out of the pandemic there was a surge towards further flung destinations such as Canada, there was a lot of desire to spend money that people couldn’t spend during COVID.
“Now there is a shift towards more perceived value destinations, so there has been a shift towards France and Italy.”
Anne said booking patterns have also shifted, with customers waiting longer to lock down a ski holiday. “Where we would normally see a surge in September, that surge didn’t come in the same level as we expected it to.
“The snow last year has made people a little bit more hesitant,” she added. “There seems to be a trend towards people waiting four to six weeks out.”
As a result, Anne said Inghams is ‘being more agile’ with its marketing spend, so that it can respond to demand rather than pre-planning activity based on previous booking patterns.
The surge in bookings for bucket-list trips, such as Santa’s Lapland and the Northern Lights, has died down, but Anne said it had ‘remained steady’.
However, Inghams is seeing growing demand for summer walking holidays, especially from younger clientele.
“We are definitely seeing a new audience coming to us to get outdoors,” she said. “They don’t necessarily want hardcore A to B walking holidays, but this was always a 65-plus market, now the age is coming down to people in their 40s and 50s.”
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