Kindle on holiday
More and more holidaymakers will rely on tablets and smartphones when travelling, and for most, having a free Wi-Fi connection in resort will be the make or break deal when booking.
For the first time in a decade, sales of PCs are set to fall as consumers upgrade to smartphones and tablets and new research shows these devices are changing the way we holiday even more than previously thought, with hotel Wi-Fi now one of the top criteria for holidaymakers who can’t bear to be out of touch with the world.
The tablet has already established itself as a traveller’s favourite, but research on behalf of Thomas Cook shows that the British obsession with gadgets has reached new heights, with the average family now taking a staggering five different mobile devices with them on holiday.
The survey found that almost a third of children take their own mobile device on holiday, a figure which looks set to increase following a ‘phablet’ Christmas, and on average, every single family takes at least one tablet.
As expected, iPads and iPhones were the most popular travel companions with, on average, every family having at least one Apple item in their luggage, closely followed by Kindle, Kindle Fire and Galaxy Samsung.
So huge is the tablet’s influence on how Brits will holiday in 2013 that nearly one in three people now consider free Wi-Fi as vital or important to their choice of hotel. Over 1,000 of Thomas Cook’s hotels offer Wi-Fi – a choice which could save customers more than £280 per week based on data roaming charges.
The need to remain connected online is driven by social media and work, the Thomas Cook survey found, with 34 per cent of people saying they use their device to update social media while on holiday, but the curse of the ‘crackberry’ means one in five admit they use their devices mainly to check work emails.
By comparison, the poll of 2,000 people found that just one in four holidaymakers used their device to read books and listen to music, and one in five people rely on it for navigation and maps, helping them to go off the beaten track and explore their holiday destination.
Tablets and smart devices are also impacting how customers book. Recent data from Google also showed that of the travel related searches made in the UK in the second quarter of this year, 13 per cent were made on mobile phones and 15 per cent were made on tablets.
Thomas Cook predicts this latter figure is set to soar in the travel arena and will soon be launching a fully mobile-optimised website to capitalise on this change.
Mike Hoban, Thomas Cook’s new marketing director, said: “In the first quarter of this year more than five per cent of our web pages were viewed using mobile devices and this figure is rapidly increasing at 5-10 per cent per month, so in addition to launching a brochure app, it’s also vital that we step up our presence online with a mobile website as we expect holiday bookings via tablets to double in 2013.
“Traditionally people were browsing for a holiday on mobile devices, but still preferred to book either face-to-face or on their PC or laptop at home, but as affordable tablets flood the market this Christmas, we expect them to replace many home laptops and as a result, more and more customers will start to book via mobile devices too.”
Top Tablets Tipped to be Taken on Holiday in 2013:
1. iPad
2. Kindle / Kindle Fire HD
3. Galaxy Samsung Tablet
4. Google Nexus 7
5. iPad Mini
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