Recommendations lead holiday influence
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People still rely more on recommendations from family and friends when choosing a holiday, a new survey has revealed.
The poll by Directline Holidays found that 30% were most influenced by their family and 12% by their friends, while only 1% relied on social media. Newspapers, magazines and television also placed importance with 13% of respondents saying they influenced a holiday decision, while 7% asked work colleagues.
Maria Whiteman, CEO of Directline Holidays said she was surprised by the results and questioned whether some were subliminally influenced by websites such as TripAdvisor.
“While only a small percentage admit to being swayed by social media, it may be that some of our respondents have been unconsciously influenced when making a decision about what product to purchase. Other internal statistics do show that bookings definitely emerge from customers clicking through from other websites but our research shows that the influence of social media may be overstated,” she explained.
In addition, Whiteman was unconvinced that a quarter of respondents were not influenced by any medium.
