Mercure unveils results of international survey conducted with TNS Sofres
Mercure hotels’s latest survey was carried out on a sample of 5,500 individuals from 13 countries, including Australia, to shed new light on traveller activity.
Some of the survey’s key findings included:
– 56% of people who answered the survey have made friends while travelling
– 45% of the people questioned said that they contacted friends of friends from their social network when travelling
– 77% of people who answered keep in touch with their friends on social networks while travelling
According to the survey report, people’s spheres of friends have also evolved and been transformed through an increase in travel. “We are no longer just friends with the people who live near us, but increasingly with people we have met when travelling in our own country or abroad.”
For example, more than half of the travellers (56%) have forged friendships during a trip. The Brazilians (84%), and most surprisingly given the language barriers, the Chinese (71%), are keenest on these cosmopolitan encounters. Conversely, the Japanese are the most reserved with only 11% of travellers declaring that they have made friends this way.
The survey also found that travellers make huge use of the social networks to organise their itinerary and benefit from the sound advice of locals before exploring the part of the world they are travelling to in the most authentic way possible.
For example, 45% of the people travelling said they contact friends of friends on their social network when travelling. They seek their tips (49%) and their company (30%). As well as the pleasure of knowing someone locally, the respondents also show great foresight since 35% of them say they find it reassuring to be able to count on an acquaintance if there’s a problem or emergency.
It’s worth noting that the Australians go a step further and contact friends of friends mostly to ask if they can stay with them on their trip (35% of respondents).
People stay connected when we’re on holiday. 77% of the travelers stay in touch with their friends on the social networks! Travel now confers status, and people share their discoveries with their friends back at home or at work. Post cards are dead! Long live photos (36%) and posts (32%)!
Social networks (re)create friendship bonds
Though social networks cannot replace genuine friendships, they do create new opportunities for encounters and serve to maintain friendship bonds. Let shyness be gone, now it’s time for virtual encounters: 44% of social network users have already become friends online with someone they’ve never actually met! Of the social network users, the Chinese are the biggest “recruiters” of virtual friends since nearly 72% of them become friends online with people they’ve never met. The Brazilians follow closely behind at nearly 67%. As for the French, they are the last on this list with just 26% of social network users declaring that they have become friends online with a person they have never met.
Social networks are also used to stay in touch with “real” friends: 58% of social networks users have already asked a person they have actually met to become a friend online. Once again, the French appear to be shyer than the other nationalities with only 42% declaring that they have done this, which means they are at the bottom of the ranking compared with the rest of the world.
Lastly, the Internet encourages the birth and above all the preservation of friendships; people rediscover their best friend from primary school (61% of the people questioned consider this to be the key advantage of social networks), they don’t forget their loved ones’ birthdays (40%) and they send their friends and family thoughts and photos (51%), all of which creates a sense of daily proximity and sharing.
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