Flight Centre continues to lead the Australian travel sector with one in twelve Australians using it to book their leisure travel in 12 months to September, according to new research by Roy Morgan.
In addition to holding 8.3% of the travel market in Australia, the retailer also emerged as the number one player in New Zealand, coming ahead of other bricks and mortar and online rivals. It has held the number one spot since Roy Morgan started tracking the data in 2004.
“Over the years Flight Centre has maintained its presence as Australia’s leading travel agent,” Roy Morgan international director of tourism Jane Ianiello said.
“The agency has a very strong brand presence, with 64% of Australians having heard of Flight Centre before and 39% recently seeing or hearing some advertising for the brand.”
However, Flight Centre's market share did shrink over the period, down from 9.8% the previous year.
While the online retailers still lagged behind Flight Centre, the only other bricks and mortar agency to appear in the top 10 was Harvey World Travel in eighth position.
With 1.8% of Australians booking travel with HWT in the year to September, the company has lost ground with its market share slipping from 2.4% in the previous corresponding period .
Other bricks and mortar agencies with an online presence such as Jetset and Travelworld ahave also lost market share to online travel agents, the research revealed.
Wotif.com and Webjet.com.au took out second and third positions with 6.1% and 4.1% respectively.
“With the increasing penetration of home computers, tablets and smartphones, the trend towards using the internet to book leisure travel is likely to continue,” Ianiello said.
Although the majority of online retailer saw their market share grow, Wotif.com's share fell from 7.3% to 6.1%.
Meanwhile, the research also found that only 34% of Australians used either a bricks and mortar or online travel agent to book leisure travel over the year.
Check out the below infographic of the top travel agents used for leisure travel in the 12 months to September:
