Let’s be honest. When you go abroad on holiday, there is something strangely satisfying about being able to post a picture on Facebook to show your mates what a good time you’re having – and to make them jealous about the fact that you’re relaxing in the sun whilst they are getting soaked in the latest shower back home.
To do that of course, you need to get online but despite the fact that roaming charges can still be higher than you’d expect, it appears that Wi-Fi internet access isn’t something deemed to be a priority when it comes to booking a holiday.
Well, until you need it anyway…
Given how reliant we are on the internet, we thought it would make sense to see what our customers views are when it comes to getting online whilst away from home and to be honest, the results were a little bit surprising.
For a start, just 11.3% of those questioned listed internet access as a key consideration when booking a hotel, with the likes of location, price, previous recommendations and distance to the nearest beach being deemed of greater importance.
Ask them how they’d manage without the internet however, and the responses were different – perhaps providing an indication of how we simply take the ability to get online for granted.
For 10.6% of those polled, the loss of Wi-Fi would be enough to bring them out in a cold sweat, with a further 47.9% acknowledging that there would be some inconvenience if they couldn’t get online for any period of time – with the fact it would no doubt return helping to ease the pain.
By contrast, 41.5% of those polled insisted that a loss of Wi-Fi would have no impact on them – obviously Facebook and Instagram are something they prefer to leave behind…
Split between the sexes, it was the men who appeared to be more concerned about not being able to get online, with only 38.2% insisting they had better things to do, compared to 42.4% of women.
However, a higher percentage of women said that not being able to get online was more than just an inconvenience, with 10.4% of those surveyed saying they would have a sense of panic at losing internet access compared to only 8.8% of men.
“The reaction to questions about internet access proved to be particularly interesting, especially in the current climate when people live their lives through social media,” Traveltext.co.uk Managing Director Chris Brown said.
“Although it’s true that the numbers who deemed internet access to be a key factor when choosing a holiday destination were quite low, this is perhaps more an indication of the way in which we now take Wi-Fi access for granted and simply assume that we’ll be able to get online no matter where we are.
“This is shown more in the response from people when faced with the prospect of not being able to get online. With less than half of those polled saying it wouldn’t concern them, it seems that gone are the days when people would go away on holiday to escape everything happening back home. Instead, we want to be able to keep up to date without everything that is going on no matter where we may be.”