Specialist tour operators could typically earn an extra £500,000 a year by putting in more effort to encourage first-time customers to re-book, according to a data analytics firm Spike Insight.
The company, which carried out a survey of almost 14,000 AITO members’ customers for the AITO Travel Insights report, found that while customer satisfaction rates were high, the majority of new clients didn’t book again the following year.
Director Jon Walton said: “We have worked with over 30 specialists, and they all think their repeat rates are better than they are,” he said. “Seventy per cent of customers only book once.”
He warned this is especially bad for companies seeking investment. “Investors hate it. You spend all that money trying to acquire a customer, you should expect them to come back and book again.”
Data shows that if a customer books twice, they are ‘infinitely more likely’ to book a third time and recommend the company to their friends and family, added Jon. However, he said that, of the specialist operators he has worked with, only 13% of their first-time customers book again the following year.
“That is terrifying for investors,” added Jon. “These operators are each leaving about £500,000 on the table, on average.”
He suggested one tactic to encourage customers to rebook was to email them after their trip with the offer of a repeat booking discount.
“All of that stuff absolutely works,” he said, adding that one of his travel clients generated £470,000 a quarter by emailing each customer up to five times on key dates.
“It’s not hard sell, it’s good customer service,” added Jon.
Travel agents can also help operators win more repeat bookings, since they typically have more loyal customers, according to Spike’s data.
While AITO operators have an average Net Promoter Score of 67, which Spike described as ‘excellent’, agents score 86, which is ‘best in class’.
A Net Promoter Score (NPS), which can range from -100 to +100, is a measure of how likely customers are to recommend a company, based on the service and value for money they received.
AITO tour operator members’ scores range from 30, which is considered ‘good’, to 90. “I am not sure you would get such a high score in any other industry,” said Jon.
Speaking during a presentation of the AITO Insights 2025 results in central London, he said agents probably scored higher than AITO operators because they are closer to their customers and their transactions are often face to face.
Sam Clark, co-founder of Experience Travel Group which has a NPS of 77, pointed out that tour operators have a lot more touch points where problems might occur, sometimes beyond their control but for which they might get blamed.
Sarah Bradley of Journey Latin America agreed: “There are a lot of moving parts that go into creating a holiday.”
When asked why agents score so highly for customer satisfaction, she added: “It comes down to having a closer relationship, they might live in the same town, they might see each other socially. She added: “Good consultants and travel agents are worth their weight in gold.”
Jon also recommended operators survey customers after they’ve booked, again a few weeks pre-departure to ask if they have any problems, and a third time after their trip, asking them to rate their holiday and say how likely they are to recommend them. He suggested they put the data into AI software like ChatGBT and request the top five findings to improve their service.
Sam of Experience Travel said he’d realised that customers were more likely to recommend a business if they’d given them a high rating in a post-travel survey, so it’s important to get customers to complete them. “People like to be consistent,” he added.
