Travel trends survey: Texting killed the postcard

No more holiday afternoons spent writing postcards – texting is the way to tell family and friends what a great time you’re having, according to a survey by Cox & Kings, the luxury touring and tailor-

No more holiday afternoons spent writing postcards – texting is the way to tell family and friends what a great time you’re having, according to a survey by Cox & Kings, the luxury touring and tailor-made holidays specialist, who asked UK holidaymakers how they keep in touch with family and friends from their travels.

The immediate gratification of texting updates and photos from holiday is the preferred method of keeping in touch for 35% of respondents, whereas only 15% still send postcards by snail mail in these tech-savvy times. As Brits become more and more comfortable using their mobiles on holiday, other methods include a mixture of Facebook and other social media, phone calls and emails.

The age of the postcard is well and truly over for 18-24 year olds, whose favourite form of keeping in touch with those at home is by texting and using Facebook. 35-54 year olds overwhelmingly keep in touch by texting and calling home, but a quarter of those over 55 years of age are still fans of the good old postcard.

Women are top of the texters, with 40% choosing to text and send photos of their holidays through their phones. Even though the majority of men also prefer texting over other forms of communicating, generally more men than women favour emailing and posting updates on Facebook to keep in touch.

“With the emergence of smart phones it seems people are opting to send instant updates and share photos from holiday rather than send traditional postcards,” said Philip Hamilton-Grierson, Marketing Director at Cox & Kings. “Our company is over 250 years old and just as Cox & Kings has evolved, so we’ve seen our customers move with the times and today we enjoy receiving their holiday updates and photos through Facebook as much as by more traditional media.”

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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