Rising long-haul demand boosts Kuoni peaks performance

Kuoni has reported one of the best January and early February sales periods since pre-Covid 2019.

Strong demand for long-haul holidays for the year ahead has seen sales rise 14% ahead of last year’s peaks, according to worldwide operator. 

The Maldives is the top selling destination, with Thailand, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Bali, Antigua, Vietnam, Malaysia, the US and South Africa in the top 10.

Other trending destinations include India, Tanzania, Australia and the Seychelles, which are all seeing a rise in bookings since last year.

Multi-centre trips with more complex itineraries are becoming more popular. Kuoni also noted an upturn in two and three centre trips with Sri Lanka and Thailand being the most popular for 2025.

The Caribbean is climbing up the top sellers list at pace with Kuoni expanding its range with the addition of Jamaica and Dominican Republic last year.

Multi-island Caribbean holidays have seen a 7% rise in bookings over last year. Antigua tops the list as the favourite destination but there is also a trend for blending more popular all-inclusive islands with smaller, lesser developed islands such as Grenada or Dominica.

The reasons for booking are also evolving as consumers with a “blank sheet of paper” requesting wildlife experiences, cookery classes, wellbeing breaks and bucket-list trips, while being open minded about where they go.

Kuoni managing director Mark Duguid said: “We’ve had a terrific start to the year with a real breadth of destinations around the world selling well, it’s clear that long-haul is really winning out right now for lots of different reasons,.  

“Value shines through as a common theme. Vietnam (pictured) is a good example of somewhere which is leading the way with experience and adventure travel, with contrasting bustling cities, food, culture and fabulous beaches which creates an ultra-special trip but at affordable prices.

“People are feeling confident and optimistic about making travel plans for the year ahead and making it a priority. There’s a taste for experience-led trips building in exploration, food and wellbeing which is also driving demand, whilst family travel is on the up. 

“Overall family travel is up 40% from last year and proving popular in both short and long-haul destinations.”

He added: “People don’t need to wait for the special occasion as an excuse to travel any more, people are making up their own definition of ‘special’.

“It used to be big zero birthdays, honeymoons and anniversaries but now it could be anything, teenagers passing exams, couples rekindling a sense of adventure or two friends travelling together to switch off with a pile of books; people are defining their own sense of what makes life special, and travel is something they want to invest in.”