Remember the days of heading down to your local travel agent and selecting a brochure to browse through images of sun-soaked Spanish resorts? Making your holiday selection based solely on the travel agent's recommendation? Whilst some still enjoy the face-to-face interaction, generally, holiday bookings are made online in a very different format to that of just 10 years ago. The internet has made it easier than ever to be your own travel agent, comparing deals and booking your own trip.
The internet has changed the way we travel, forever.
Rates are easy to compare online
Rewind just 10-15 years and we relied heavily on our travel agent to find us the best deals for our hotel booking. The 'special relationships' with resorts were key to us snagging a few pounds off a package holiday. These days, it's almost too easy to compare holiday prices online. With an abundance of comparison websites that do all the hard work for us, we no longer rely on the agents to showcase the best rates.
We use online content to research destinations
We used to utilise the glossy brochures on the shelves of travel agents to select our holiday and destination of choice, but those days have faded into the distance for many. Today's youth are probably unaware such marketing collateral exists. Nowadays, with the abundance of useful content online, we're more likely to check out our favourite travel blog or lifestyle website to find the hottest destinations.
Social media is a huge inspiration
Instagram also has a heavy influence on travel with social media users drawing inspiration from the platform. These days, younger travellers are more likely to seek out cultural hotspots and areas of natural beauty as opposed to the 18-30s style holidays that took the 1990s by storm. As shallow as it may sound, travelling for 'the gram' is a trend that simply cannot be ignored, it's shaping the future of travel and even hotels are designing interiors that are Instagram worthy.
We book flights and hotels independently
Although package holidays are said to be on the rise again - largely due to uncertainties in the travel sector - consumers are generally much more comfortable with booking flights and hotels independently in order to bag a better deal. Instead of using an agent, many travellers head straight to the airline to compare rates on specific days. Putting together your own package can often end up cheaper, but just remember to take out insurance in case anything was to go wrong. With the recent Thomas Cook collapse, anything is possible.
Travel alerts do the hard work for us
Instead of trawling through different booking and comparison websites to review prices daily, it's now easy to set up price alerts in order to be alerted of any price drops. It takes away the hard work and does everything for you. Flights to New York, anyone?
It's fair to say that the booking journey has changed dramatically in the past decade. Holidaymakers are now well-informed and equipped to do the work themselves with technology enabling users of all ages to seek out offers, deals and book from their smartphone device. It does make us wonder, how will the booking journey look in another 10 years?
