As the travel booking process gets more and more complicated – and as travellers feel the effects of choice-overload – the wise counsel from travel advisors is more valuable than ever.

According to new statistics from travel tech provider Travelport, 58% of travellers say they feel overwhelmed by too many choices when booking getaways, 56% say airline offers are more difficult to understand now than they were 10 years ago, and 71% feel anxious about whether they got the best deal after they’ve booked their trip.

The research sample consisted of 1,659 consumers from Germany, South Africa, the UK and the U.S. that have taken at least one or more flights for business or leisure within the last 12 months.

Canadian travellers weren’t part of the sample. But anyone who works in the Canadian travel industry – or travels themselves – would no doubt agree that Travelport’s findings resonate here too.

Travelport owns the Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo GDSs, and the survey comes as legacy GDSs work with airlines on New Distribution Capabilities (NDC) strategies, and as travel agencies get onboard with the new airfare booking protocol.

“Growing need & opportunity for travel agencies”

Travelport released its 2024 State of Modern Retailing Report this week, with plenty of relevant intel for the retail travel industry.

Jen Catto, Chief Marketing Officer at Travelport, says the biggest takeaway from this first annual report is that that searching and booking travel directly from travel providers has become more time-consuming and complicated than ever.

Travelport estimates that air travel options have gone from about 500 economy/ business options available in 2010, to over 10,000 options in 2024 (economy, economy plus, flexi- family, business, first, etc.), a 1,900% increase.

Here’s a look at more findings from the survey …

• 61% of travellers believe there are more penalties now when changing a flight than there were 10 years ago, with 66% citing that there are too many hidden fees
• The majority of travellers (71%) sometimes feel anxious about whether they got the best deal after they’ve booked their trip, with 42% feeling like airline offers have become ‘less suitable’ over time in meeting their personal preferences
• Most travellers (80%) agree that comparing fares from different airlines is very time-consuming, with more than two-thirds (69%) feeling that information is often restricted on some airline booking sites
• When it comes to shopping for all components of their trip, 60% said they spend an average of one to four hours planning, while more than one-third (36%) spend more than five hours searching and comparing options before booking
• Most respondents (88%) agree they would prefer to see all flight options and fares on one screen, which is likely the reason that more than half (54%) said they frequently use a comparison site to search for information before purchasing their ticket
• The majority of Millennial (70%) and Gen X (64%) travellers often use OTAs to book, citing choice and price transparency as the primary reasons
• Travellers are looking to artificial intelligence (AI) to provide more than just a chatbot, and agencies will increasingly rely on their technology partners to implement AI and ML (machine learning) in creative ways
• When booking flights, respondents said that luggage allowance (63%), cancellation and change policies (50%) and seat selection (50%) are the most important factors to compare
• Most travellers (63%) also stated that they feel airlines do not put the customer first when it comes to customer servicing matters (flight cancellations, exchanges, etc.)
• The hotel features that were cited as most important to travellers were WiFi availability (48%), complimentary breakfast options (47%), and hotel facilities (45%)

For more information and to read the 2024 State of Modern Retailing report, click here.