Shorter booking times have been one of the strongest trends in travel over the past decade but our habits appear to be changing.
An annual survey of 2200 people by online travel agency travel.com.au shows almost half of us are booking domestic flights one to three months in advance and the most common booking period for overseas flights is four to six months before the trip.
The survey results, released exclusively to The Sun-Herald, show less than five per cent of travellers are booking overseas flights within a month of departure.
The general manager of travel.com.au, Renee Welsh, believes the reversal of the late-booking trend is due to consumers with busy lives being better educated about the value of early-bird specials.
“What we’re seeing is that people are planning their lives more,” she says. ”Our lives are very demanding; in most families both parents are working and therefore it requires more planning in terms of taking a holiday.”
Welsh says forward planning is particularly apparent in families with children, due to the need to juggle school holidays, childcare and time off work.
This article is an excerpt from Jane E. Fraser’s weekly travel column in The Sun Herald, Sydney.
