Jet2holidays has marked a decade of offering holidays of any duration to customers, a pioneering move which broke the mould of the ‘traditional’ seven and 14-night holiday. To mark the milestone, the UK’s second largest tour operator has published data showing how the public have responded to having more choice and flexibility.
The package holiday specialist pioneered flexible duration holidays a decade ago – a move which offered customers complete choice over how long they holiday for. Instead of following the tried and tested seven or 14-night model, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays moved to offer customers multiple weekly and daily flights to its destinations, giving them total freedom of choice in line with their budgets, their lifestyles, and their diaries.
At the time of launching holidays of any duration, travellers could book a week, 10-nights, or a fortnight in the sun, and that was how they holidayed overseas full stop. However, Jet2holidays booking data – based on millions of bookings over the past ten years – has revealed the impact of having such flexibility on how we holiday.
Although still popular, today less than two thirds (64%) of holiday bookings are for 7 or 14-nights, a drop of eleven percentage points from 2009, when they accounted for three in four bookings (75%). Back then, just 15% of bookings were for between 8-13 nights whereas that figure is one in four (24%) today. The number of bookings for between 1-6 nights has also increased by four percentage points to 11% over the past decade.
Nowhere is this trend more evident than at East Midlands Airport, where the drop has been 21 percentage points (87% of bookings were for 7 or 14-night stays in 2009, compared to 66% in 2019) and Newcastle Airport where the drop is 16 percentage points (82% in 2009 to 66% in 2019). At Manchester Airport, the company’s biggest base, the drop is 13 percentage points (73% in 2009 to 60% in 2019).
The pattern is most noticeable amongst 18-25 year olds (77% in 2009 compared to 63% in 2019), 46-55 year olds (75% in 2009 compared to 63% in 2019), and 56-65 year olds (78% in 2009 compared to 66% in 2019).
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “There was a time when holidaymakers would have to book a seven or 14-night holiday by default, but we knew that they wanted more flexibility and we were the company that responded to that. Instead of telling customers how long they should be holidaying for, we wanted them to be in complete control, so we pioneered the concept of flexible durations, operating multiple weekly flights and even daily flights, so that customers could be more flexible and have more choice. Whether you want a two-night break on the Costa Del Sol, a four-night holiday in Majorca, a six-night stay in Ibiza, or a 12-night getaway to Tenerife, Jet2holidays lets you book with complete flexibility.”
He added: “Giving customers choice and flexibility over the duration of their holidays, on top of delivering a VIP customer service, has played a huge part in our success and growth over the past ten years and we are proud that we were the company to pioneer holidays of any duration.”
