Understanding Britain’s day trippers
Ahead of this weekend’s Jubilee, Alice Dunn, marketing executive at Kantar Media, gives an insight into British holiday-makers…
With the Jubilee bank holiday now upon us, Brits are sure to be getting out and making the most of the long weekend and half term. Insight from Kantar Media’s TGI survey reveals that one quarter of British adults prefer to take holidays at home rather than abroad, suggesting that Brits are likely to be out in force this weekend and through next week.
With the spending of day trippers and holiday-makers being more valuable than ever, particularly in an uncertain economic climate, understanding the nuances in the British day-tripper market will be invaluable for marketers hoping to capitalise on British tourism in this year “to celebrate England”.
With the warmer weather, theme parks will be a popular choice. 8.5 million Brits have visited a theme park in Britain in the last 12 months. These thrill-seekers are over twice as likely as the average adult to be in the TGI Lifestage Primary School Parents group (live with son/daughter and youngest child 5-9). They are also 55% more likely to buy the brands their children prefer, hinting at the ‘pester power’ of younger children on their parents.
These thrill-seekers are an easily influenced bunch, making them all the more attractive to marketers. They are over twice as likely as the average adult to be influenced by celebrities in their purchase decisions and 78% more likely than to buy products from companies who sponsor TV programmes. They are also an ambitious and driven group – they are a third more likely to look on the work they do as a career rather than just a job and 50% more likely to want to set up their own business one day.
Museums up and down the country are also sure to be full of Brits this weekend. TGI insight reveals 15 million British adults have visited a museum in the last 12 months. These museum-goers are a slightly different sort of crowd to their theme park-going counterparts – they are 28% more likely than the average adult to be in the TGI Lifestage Nest Builders group (15-34, not married or living with relations).
Attitudinally, there is also a marked distinction between this group and the theme park thrill-seekers. These museum-goers are 40% more likely than the average British adult to pay more for environmentally friendly products and only buy from companies whose ethics they agree with. In keeping with this, they are close to a third more likely to pay attention to where the food they purchase is grown and a quarter more likely to be influenced by the news in their dietary habits.
With this weekend focused on celebrating the Queen and the British monarchy, some may use the occasion to visit one of Britain’s great number of castles and cathedrals. 27% of British adults have done just that in the last 12 months, making it a popular choice for a day out. Similarly to museum-goers, they are an environmentally-conscious group, significantly more likely to pay more for organic food and environmentally friendly products and to make lifestyle compromises to benefit the environment.
Aside from that, they are also a financially astute bunch – they are 22% more likely than the average British adult to look for profitable ways to invest their money. To ensure they are putting it in the right place, they are also more likely to read the financial pages of their newspapers. In addition, they are 59% more likely to hold at least three saving accounts and cite interest rates as the most important factor in choosing an account.
Insight from TGI reveals that despite their differences, one of the most effective ways to reach all three of these distinctive tourist groups is through cinema. All three are more likely to be amongst the heaviest 25% of consumers of cinema. There are, however, other effective ways to reach them: Those visiting castles are also 24% more likely to be heavy radio listeners. Museum-goers are a quarter more likely to be among the heaviest 25% of consumers of outdoor media while the thrill-seekers are heavy internet-users. Both of these groups are also more likely to be willing to pay to access content on newspaper and magazine websites, indicating that they are true media-multitaskers.