Saturday, May 06, 2006
Changing patterns of Corsica's tourism
The people who run Corsicaholiday.com tell me that the habits of Britain's Corsica visitors appear to be changing. But whether this is a seasonal change or an internet-induced shift in behaviour of much larger proportions, I wouldn't hazard an opinion yet.
Up until the end of March, the bulk of people booking their annual holidays through the site chose to book a complete holiday through a tour operator such as Simply Corsica or Thomson. Since the sun came out here (our first watery sunshine of the year came through the cloud layer in Britain on 1st April) most of the visitors we know about booked flights and accommodation separately.
Web sites like this one can help people who fancy the DIY approach to do their own holidays, and it will save quite lot of money, but of course there are drawbacks. Cheap airfares are sometimes non-refundable, and there is no general safety net for individuals such as that provided by ABTA for tour operators and travel agents.
My guess is that the change in behaviour between the early months of the year and later in the spring is part general and part seasonal. And of course more people are now taking more than one holiday each year, and I reckon the holidays of the DIY variety tend to be booked at the last minute.
Up until the end of March, the bulk of people booking their annual holidays through the site chose to book a complete holiday through a tour operator such as Simply Corsica or Thomson. Since the sun came out here (our first watery sunshine of the year came through the cloud layer in Britain on 1st April) most of the visitors we know about booked flights and accommodation separately.
Web sites like this one can help people who fancy the DIY approach to do their own holidays, and it will save quite lot of money, but of course there are drawbacks. Cheap airfares are sometimes non-refundable, and there is no general safety net for individuals such as that provided by ABTA for tour operators and travel agents.
My guess is that the change in behaviour between the early months of the year and later in the spring is part general and part seasonal. And of course more people are now taking more than one holiday each year, and I reckon the holidays of the DIY variety tend to be booked at the last minute.
# posted by Derekthered @ 9:54 AM 
