Companies see early increase in winter bookings to the US

Top-selling destinations

Companies see early increase in winter bookings to the US

Report by JANEARCHER

BOOKINGS to the US are showing an early increase on last year as car-rental reservations for this winter start to come in.

Hertz vice-president leisure sales and marketing Bill Jones said advanced bookings for the US look particularly strong, while Holiday Autos managing director UK and Ireland Tony Seaman said US rentals are more than 100% up on the same time last year.

That compares with a general increase in winter bookings of 30% year on year, although Seaman emphasised it is still very early to predict the market because clients are increasingly leaving it later to book.

He said the US is the top-selling destination for winter bookings, ahead of the Canaries, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus.

Australia and New Zealand are also in the top 10.

“Last year was strong for long haul because of the millennium but bookings are increasing even more this year,” said Seaman.

Connect Car Rental managing director Adrian Duthie said business to the US is “significantly up” but from a small base and winter bookings for Europe are starting to come in on the back of the airlines’ newly published winter schedules.

“Once the airline timetables are out, bookings start to come in, especially from independent skiers as they can drive to the ski resorts from Lyon, Geneva, Nice and Munich in around two hours,” said Duthie.

“The pound is strong so people feel confident about taking holidays,” he added.

Jones said it is too early to make accurate predictions for the winter market in general as most bookings come in early autumn, but added: “Given that we have had an unimpressive UK summer, I expect the industry will see an upturn in winter bookings for warmer destinations.”

Pelican Car Hire director John Swindell said Canada has started to book well for the ski season but generally it was too early to comment on winter sales. “Summer is ahead of last year though, happily so,” he added.

Gearing up: car-rental bookings to the US are up on the millennium period