Members of Aito Specialist Travel Agents achieved a 10% increase in overall bookings via its Aito All Stars incentive scheme in the first quarter of the year.
The average booking value has gone up by 22% over the same time last year, as well as an increase of 22% for the average booking value in March 2017.
Aito Agents chairman Gemma Antrobus (Haslemere Travel) said: “We’ve seen a trend towards more niche holiday group bookings, which are great commission earners for agents.
“There have been some exceptional bookings so far in the first quarter of this year, with several exceeding £100,000.
“The All Stars programme is only in connection with 42 of our 91 agent-facing Aito tour operator members. Therefore, the actual Aito Agents bookings with all agent-facing Aito tour operators could well be double if we tracked them all.”
She added: “What is evident from these is that our specialist travel agents, now more so than ever, are ensuring that they turn to their Aito tour operator partners first and foremost, when making bookings for their clients.
“The first quarter of 2017 sees the largest amount of sales achieved in any quarter since the scheme’s inception.”