Atas Conference values market at £425m this year

The touring and adventure market grew by 13% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2017 and is on track to be worth in excess of £425 million in 2017.

The figures were revealed at the inaugural Association of Touring & Adventure Suppliers (Atas) Conference and based on booking data supplied by 19 of the association’s 27 supplier members.

It shows consistent year-on-year growth over the past three years. According to the Atas data, the market was valued at £347 million in 2015, and grew by 8% to £376 million in 2016.

If 2017 projections are correct, the £425 million valuation of the market would represent growth of 22%, or £78 million, since 2015.

Presenting the figures for the first time at the conference at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre last week, the association’s chairman, Giles Hawke, said: “Holding our inaugural Atas Conference and being able to provide actual booking data to track the size of the market is a huge step as we communicate the potential of this sector to our travel agent partners and their customers.

“This is a historic moment and it is our moment. This is the start of something big.”

However, he warned volumes were not growing at the same rate as revenues, meaning there was still work to be done to attract more customers to the sector.

The data showed that the average booking value had grown in the past three years from £1,423 in 2015 to £1,961 in the first nine months of 2017.

This increase was largely driven by a shift in the destinations being booked. Long-haul, including North and South America and Asia, has accounted for a growing proportion of bookings, while Europe’s share, inclusive of the UK, dropped from 63% in 2015 to 51% in the first three-quarters of 2017.

More: Atas website