Agents report strong lates and increase in Caribbean bookings

Travel agencies are reporting strong demand for the final weeks of the summer alongside growing momentum for future seasons, with destinations including the Caribbean continuing to benefit from ongoing caution around travel to the Middle East.

However, some trade experts noted Caribbean sales remain constrained by challenges including lack of available bedstock and regional flight connectivity from the UK and between islands.

Advantage Travel Partnership commercial director John Sullivan said overall trading in the seven days to Monday was 16% up on the same week last year, while Katharina Peck, commercial director at The Travel Network Group, cited bookings growth of 36% year on year.

Agencies said this summer continues to account for the bulk of demand, with Spain the leading destination, but winter and 2027 are performing well for long-haul departures.

Sullivan said Caribbean sales had risen 11% year on year so far in 2026, adding the Middle East crisis brought alternative destinations to the Gulf “firmly back into focus” for clients weighing up their options.

Barrhead Travel managing director Nicki Tempest‑Mitchell said: “The Caribbean continues to hold a special place in customers’ hearts and we’re seeing that reflected in booking trends.

“Barbados has been one of our standout performers across both land-based holidays and cruise.”

Peck also cited the strength of demand for Barbados, adding: “The Caribbean continues to perform well, particularly for winter 2026-27 and 2027 departures.”

Premier Travel managing director Paul Waters described Caribbean demand as “encouraging” amid overall “healthy” booking levels.

Yet Blue Bay Travel chief executive Alistair Rowland said the Caribbean was unable to act as a direct replacement for destinations to the east because the region is “full of Americans”, adding room stock was either scarce as a result or “too premium”.

Admiral Travel co-director Craig Weatherill said he would sell more Caribbean holidays if airlift from Manchester improved, while Kenneth Macleod Travel director Julie Loftus noted the challenge posed by the lack of direct flights from Scotland.

She said the Glasgow agency sold a Grenada holiday this month, departing in November, but the need to transfer in London “puts a lot of people off” land-based trips.

“We did have an Edinburgh to Barbados [service] but that got dropped,” she said. “I don’t think it was really given a chance.”

She added: “A lot of people who do the Caribbean choose cruises.”

Writing in this week’s special Caribbean-themed edition of Travel Weekly, Caribtours chief executive Paul Cleary said sales to the region this year were up 10% on last year, with 2027 looking “even more promising”.

But he also pointed to difficulties overcoming a focus on the core December-April period, alongside a lack of intra-Caribbean flight connectivity.

Weatherill, who noted the strength of Caribbean fly-cruise demand, said overall trading had been “so busy” in recent days.

“The last 10 days have been like peaks,” he added. “There are people booking for the next six weeks thinking, ‘This summer is going to end, so I’m going to get away’.”

Alan Bowen, advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, described the overall market as “tight” but said short-haul was doing “all right”.

“It hasn’t been the year people were expecting,” he said. “Early bookings haven’t materialised since the end of February when [the US war on Iran] began. But it hasn’t been a disaster. People are travelling – especially short-haul.”