Recovery from the early 1990s recession brought with it a surge in the volume of demand for long holidays in 1994 and 1995, but with consumers still expecting cheap holidays, often at late notice. The travel industry consequently found itself lumbered with over capacity in 1995 and was forced into heavy discounting on late bookings resulting in low profit margins. This had a profound impact on the consumer as it has made many people aware of the benefits of booking late, that is six weeks (or often less) before departure.

Different segments of the market behave differently with regards to the timing of bookings, and the it tends to be those consumers who are most flexible regarding the timing and destination of their holiday who are most attracted to late bookings. However, the technological revolution, led by the Internet, has given the concept of late bookings a high profile, and more people than ever before are now searching for late booking bargains.

Other Mintel reports of relevance include:

- Special Report, Holidays - Destination Marketing, 2000

- Early Holiday Bookings, Leisure Intelligence, July 2000

- Holidays on the Internet, Leisure Intelligence, May 2000

- Inclusive Tours, Leisure Intelligence, May 2000

- Independent Travel, Leisure Intelligence, April 2000

- British On Holiday At Home, Leisure Intelligence, March 2000

- Hotels, Leisure Intelligence, February 2000

- Activity Holidays, Leisure Intelligence, October 1999

- Short Breaks Abroad, Leisure Intelligence, September 1999

- Tourism and the Over 45s, Leisure Intelligence, September 1999

- Holiday Centres, Leisure Intelligence, August 1999

- Crossing the Channel, Leisure Intelligence, July 1999

and the forthcoming:

-	Holidays by Lifestage, Leisure Intelligence, September 2000
-	Youth Holidays, Leisure Intelligence, September 2000
-	Premium Holidays, Leisure Intelligence, October 2000
-	Budget Holidays, Leisure Intelligence, November 2000
-	Pink Travel, Leisure Intelligence, November 2000.

Definition

A late booking is defined as a booking made for a holiday or travel/accommodation abroad, within six weeks of departure. Within this definition, a last-minute booking is defined as a booking made for a holiday or travel/accommodation abroad two weeks or less before departure.

The standard definitions used in the terminology of this report (and the Leisure Intelligence series) are as follows:

-	tourism is any travel which involves an overnight stay away from home
-	a holiday is a subjectively defined form of tourism, as defined by the tourist in response to surveys such as IPS or BNTS. A holiday can be distinguished from other leisure travel such as visits to friends and relatives (VFR) or shopping trips
-	a long holiday is a holiday of four nights or more away from home; a short break is a holiday which involves 1-3 nights away from home
-	short-haul refers to air holidays within Europe, dominated by flights to Mediterranean resorts but including the Canary Islands, which are treated as a part of the Spanish market. Long-haul, therefore, refers to holidays outside Europe
-	an inclusive tour, or package holiday, is defined as the simultaneous sale of at least two elements of a holiday to the traveller: fares on public transport (eg flights) and commercial accommodation (eg hotel or self-catering apartment). Other elements, such as meals or excursions are not essential to the definition of an inclusive tour. The term "all-inclusive" is used to describe a special type of resort holiday in which food, drink, excursions and other services are provided as part of the total holiday cost
-	an independent holiday is one in which the traveller organises and books transport and accommodation from separate sources (eg a Channel ferry crossing and a caravan site in France). Seat-only is a type of independent holiday, used to denote holidays in which travellers only purchase a return fare and thereafter book their own accommodation, car-hire etc.

Consumer research

In addition to the standard breaks, Mintel has analysed the consumer research in the following manner.

Lifestages are derived from analysis of the exclusive consumer research and are split into four main groups:

Pre-family	those aged under 35 who are not parents
Family	those aged 15-54 with at least one child aged under 16 still at home
Empty nesters	no family/empty nesters aged 35-54 with no children (aged under 16)
Post-family	post-family/retired, those aged over 55/not working.

As part of an ongoing policy to find new ways of analysing data, Mintel has created

Special Groups of consumers to typify consumer habits in the early 2000s. Unlike the lifestage groups, these groups represent only sections of the population and

do not account for all adults.

Benefit dependents	Es aged 35+ - those who are reliant solely on state benefits (around 10% of the adult population)
Families on a tight budget	working C2Ds with at least one child aged under 16 in the household - the majority have limited incomes which must be spent on a relatively large household (around 10% of the adult population)
Better-off families	working ABC1s with at least one child aged under 16 in the household (around 9% of the population)
Better-off empty nesters	ABC1s aged 35-64 who are working with no children (aged under 16) living at home. They are, therefore, the classic no family/empty nesters with probably a high income that can be spent on themselves rather than on family (around 8% of the adult population)
Working managers	working ABs (around 9% of the population)
Working women	women in part- or full-time employment (around 21% of the adult population).

This report also uses consumer research analysed by ACORN category. ACORN is a geo-demographic segmentation method, using census data to classify consumers according to the type of residential area in which they live. Each postcode in the country can, therefore, be allocated an ACORN category.

This classification is a more powerful differentiator of consumer behaviour than traditional socio-economic and demographic indicators. The categories, and their components, are as follows:

Group A - Thriving	Wealthy achievers, suburban areas
(Approx 20% of population)	Affluent greys, rural communities
	Prosperous pensioners, retirement areas
Group B - Expanding	Affluent executives, family areas
(Approx 11% of population)	Well-off workers, family areas
Group C - Rising	Affluent urbanites, town and city areas
(Approx 8% of population)	Prosperous professionals, metropolitan areas
	Better-off executives, inner city areas
Group D - Settling	Comfortable middle-agers, mature homeowning areas
(Approx 25% of population)	Skilled workers, homeowning areas
Group E - Aspiring	New homeowners, mature communities
(Approx 13% of population)	White-collar workers, better-off multiethnic areas
Group F - Striving	Older people, less prosperous areas
(Approx 21% of population)	Council estate residents, better-off homes
	Council estate residents, high unemployment
	Council estate residents, greatest hardships
	People in multiethnic, low income areas.

Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices unless otherwise stated.

Abbreviations

ACNielsen MMS	For more information contact Mary Sneddon at ACNielsen MMS
	on 01344 627553.
ACORN	A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods
AIT	All Inclusive Tour
AOL	America On Line
BAA	British Airports Authority
BMRB	British Market Research Bureau
BNTS	British National Travel Survey
BT	British Telecommunications
CAA	Civil Aviation Authority
GDP	Gross Domestic Product
IPS	International Passenger Survey
ISP	Internet Service Provider
IT	Inclusive Tour
JMC	John Mason Cook
MMC	Monopolies and Mergers Commission
MORI	Market and Opinion Research International
MSN	Microsoft Network
Nasdaq	National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation
NOP	National Opinion Polls
ONS	Office for National Statistics
PDI	Personal Disposable Income
SPSS	Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
TGI	Target Group Index. For further details concerning this information, including data regarding readership patterns of users/purchasers and details of brands, please contact Peter Shreeve at BMRB International on 020 8566 5000.
TTG	Thomson Travel Group
TUI	Tourist Union International
UKTS	United Kingdom Tourism Survey
VFR	Visiting friends and relatives
WAP	Wireless Application Protocol

08/2000