Holiday booking strong after ash cloud

Holiday booking advice: The true Brit spirit, that gave us the biggest empire the world has ever seen, is still alive and well. With UK holiday makers refusing to be cowed by the Icelandic ash cloud…

The media hype around the damage that the recent events have had on future airline bookings appears unfounded, after we questioned 1200 people on the TRAVEL impact of the ash cloud.

Only one in ten people are considering postponing a planned holiday as a result of the volcanic ash crisis which grounded European flights for five days.

Almost half (46%) of people disagreed that the airspace closure made them less likely to fly for their summer holiday this year, new research shows.

Eight per cent of adults were prevented from flying due to Iceland’s volcanic eruption, with a further 19% of people indirectly affected by family being unable to fly, according to the research.

More than a third (34%) of people interviewed said that they or a family member were unable to return home from a holiday on a scheduled date, while a quarter had to cancel or postpone their holiday because they could not depart.

Despite this, the vast majority of travellers accept that the Government’s flight ban decision, on the advice of the national Air Traffic Services, was the right course of action.

More than 60% of those questioned agreed that “the authorities were correct in keeping UK airspace closed for as long as they did”, rising to 70% of those directly affected by the ban.

“There is continued uncertainty over the extent of the impact on taking flights and overseas trips for the rest of 2010, although it is interesting to see that the majority of travellers will not let the situation influence their future plans.

“The speed of recovery to ‘normal travel patterns’ will obviously be heavily influenced by whether the emissions from the volcano result in any further closures in coming weeks.”