For Kids, Travel is the Internet. Period!

Excerpts from  an article in Travel Weekly (a publication of the travel industry. August 20, by Juliet Dennis)

Kids tell it how it is: It’s web all the way

Teletext Holidays did the survey and reported that 65% of kids preferred booking because it allowed the family to choose a holiday at the same time, and look at pictures and videos together.

Which supports a recent AOL-AP poll reporting that a huge perentage of travelers were chosing travel destination based on videos and a scant 14 per cent were relying on print articles.

In comparison, 28.8% said the best way to book a holiday was through a travel agent because it was fun looking at brochures. A total of 6% said they would choose a holiday through the TV, because it could be done so as a family.

Online activity

Nearly half (45%) of the kids said they would take their iPod or MP3 player on holiday, 42.5% would take handheld games such as a Nintendo DS, and 41% their mobile phones.

And, more than half  would either send a text message (39.5%) or put a message on social networking sites such as Facebook (14%) to contact friends, while less than half would send a postcard (46.4%).

Children wield a significant influence over the family travel planning process.

Would you see a 20-year-old going into an agency to book a holiday? Probably not. They will go online.

One expert in the article said children today are almost beyond the web; they want to do their web transactions through their mobiles. Travel companies are struggling to catch up with moving their online technology to mobiles.

The survey also high-lighted the influence children have on their parents’ decision on where to go on holiday, with 78% saying they were either always, or sometimes, involved in the destination decision.

The best way to book a holiday is on the internet. Fewer  than one-third said travel agents were how they would book a trip.