RetailX UK Travel Reveals Insights on Online Bookings

29% of UK consumers still buy bus tickets through a company’s own app, RetailX UK Travel unveiled.

The RetailX UK Travel 2023 report has found that when it comes to booking travel UK consumers are more than comfortable with doing it online. The research also shows that the UK has the most advanced ecommerce market in Europe, with 31% of consumers shopping online more than once a week. With 5% doing so more than once a day – online is the default.

When making the booking, UK shoppers still prefer to go directly to the source rather than trust a third-party app. This is more likely to happen with flight tickets than any other segment. Train tickets are the items that are most likely to be purchased through a third-party app, but 29% of consumers still buy bus tickets through a company’s own app. Package holidays and campervans are more likely than any other segment to be booked on a third-party website. 

The research also showed that UK travellers still don’t like to cancel unless necessary, with 77% saying they hadn’t cancelled a trip in the last 12 months. Just 15% said they’d paid extra to cancel, change departure or arrival times or check-ins after the trip had started (this was 17% beforehand). This is slightly less than the European average. However, there are some generational differences. It is Generation Z who are most likely to make modifications or cancellations before and during a trip, but the over-78s almost never do either.