One in four people likely to take their main holiday outside the UK this year will have booked it by today. Another one in four holidaymakers expect to book by the end of Easter.
An exclusive study for Travel Weekly by consumer research firm TNS suggests 26% of UK adults planned to book by the end of January, with 16% already having done so at the start of the month when the survey was carried out.
A further 23% said they were likely to book their holiday by the end of April. The survey found sharp regional differences in the proportion of early bookers, with 41% of West-Midlands holidaymakers booked by the end of this month but only 16% in the South East.
However, the greatest reluctance to book early for the summer appears to be among families with toddlers. Just 10% of households with children aged three to five planned to arrange their holiday by today (January 31). Two out of three families with children of this age were uncertain when they would book or planned to do so late.
You can read more results of the survey of almost 1,000 consumers in Travel Weekly later this week.