Self-catering Holidays

What does the overseas self-catering consumer look like, and what does this sector need to do to entice newcomers and maintain a decent level of repeat business? By analysing the market as a whole and understanding the opportunities and threats facing this sector it has been possible to pull together useful insights into self-catering holidays that will help to guide the travel industry in the future.

Main issues

Can the self-catering sector compete with the trend towards private ownership?
How can the relationship with gastronomy be developed?
How can the need for authenticity and interaction be capitalised upon?
How can the sector entice newcomers and maintain a decent level of repeat business?

Additional Information

Definitions

In this report, ‘self-catering’ holidays are defined as those where accommodation with cooking facilities is provided (even if it isn’t used), as opposed to full board, half-board or bed and breakfast accommodation.

An adult, for the purposes of Mintel's research, is anyone aged 15 or over.

The standard travel and tourism 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 one to three 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).

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11/20/2009 - 2