Choice of destination is the most important factor when it comes booking a holiday, according to new research from ABTA.
The association’s Holiday Habits 2025-26 survey revealed that 45% of people ranked ‘destination’ as their most important consideration when deciding on where to take a holiday, rising to 57% for those aged 65-plus.
This was followed by just over a third of people (33%) saying ‘cost’ was most important and 12% who said ‘holiday dates’ were most important.
Graeme Buck, Director of Communications at ABTA – The Travel Association, said: “This new analysis allows us to better understand the motivating factors behind the booking decision. Destination is king but not the only consideration.”
In other findings included in Holiday Habits 2025-26, 65% of people say that holidays are the most important time of year and 80% say they are important for their mental health.
Only 28% of people now say they would cut back spending on holidays to cover the day-to-day cost of living, the lowest figure ABTA has seen over the past few years. That’s compared with people inclined to save on eating out (57%), activities such as going to the cinema (45%), or buying clothes (40%) and electronic gadgets (37%).
34% of respondents used travel professionals to book their holidays in the last 12 months, with the key reasons for doing so being the confidence travellers feel when they’ve booked through an agent (at 41%, a five percentage point increase year-on-year), professional assistance, ease of booking, access to agents’ expert help and advice and agents’ role in helping them get the best value for money.
More than a fifth (22%) stated that they have a “better holiday” when they’ve used a travel professional to book it.
The expertise that travel agents can also bring to organising holidays when disability or mobility requirements are a factor (16%), or when there is a large group (13%), were also mentioned.
ABTA is a trade association for UK travel agents, tour operators and the wider travel industry.
