Holidaying Aussies Only Willing To Spend Three Days Offline
A new study into Australians’ internet habits has found a staggering 91 per cent of the people believe it’s important to have access to the internet while on holiday, with close to a quarter nominating internet access as one of their key considerations when choosing a holiday destination.
Conducted by YouGov on behalf of Princess Cruises, the survey of more than a 1000 Australians found most people (58 per cent) would only tolerate being offline for a maximum of three days during their holiday, with 27 per cent unwilling to spend more than 24 hours without internet access.
However, while holidaymakers want to be online, 81 per cent of those surveyed said there were still barriers to using the internet while on holiday, with most (62 per cent) blaming the high cost of access and slow internet speeds.
Meanwhile, more than half (55 per cent) of respondents who are considering choosing a cruise for their next holiday said they would be more likely to sail if they had access to high speed internet at a reasonable cost during their time onboard.
The survey findings have been released today as Princess Cruises celebrates 100 days to go until the first “Smart Ship” sails in Australian waters – a milestone which will be reached when Ruby Princess is enabled with Princess’ groundbreaking MedallionClass Holidays technology on 27 January 2020 during her maiden Australia and New Zealand Summer deployment.
“This survey underlines just how important technology now is in our choice of holidays, with 1 in 2 people surveyed saying they would be more likely to take a cruise if they had access to high speed internet,” Princess Cruises Senior Vice President Asia Pacific Stuart Allison said.
“It’s clear that Princess Cruises’ new ground-breaking technology will represent a seismic shift in how our guests travel and interact with their ship. In the same way that smart phones have simplified our daily lives, our new “Smart-Ships” will help remove the friction points from travel, allowing us to deliver a more personalised service to our guests and ultimately give our guests more time to relax on their cruise holiday.” Mr Allison added.
