Jane E. Fraser

Why men are useless at organising holidays July 20, 2010

HOW much would men travel if women didn’t organise it for them?

A lot may have changed within gender roles over the past couple of generations but not when it comes to planning travel. Women continue to be the chief and often sole decision makers for travel bookings, calling the shots on destination, type of holiday and how much is spent. Is it because men give less priority to travel or because they are happy to let someone else do the planning for them?

Travel agent Vivien Davies, the manager of Harvey World Travel Sylvania, believes it’s a bit of both. “I think in general women are the organisers,” she says. “And they seem to be the ones who want to have that time out and get away from everyday life. A lot of men wouldn’t go anywhere [if women didn't organise it].”

Davies says with mainstream holiday bookings it is nearly always the woman who makes the decisions; “almost 100 per cent”. The exception is older couples booking luxury holidays, where it is more likely to be the man making the arrangements. “In that bracket, when they do have that much money to spend, they [men] tend to have been real decision makers in whatever business they have been in … and that follows through to making the decisions about travel,” she says.

But even in this sector, Davies is seeing more female input, with men who would have once booked without consultation now being influenced by their partners’ ideas or wishes. Davies believes most travel marketing is aimed at women and ideas that are put into women’s minds generally find their way into men’s minds, too.

Demographer Bernard Salt, of KPMG, believes the travel booking divide largely comes down to women being… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)