Agents have reported a promising start to the new year with customers booking early for their summer holidays.
John Sullivan, head of commercial at Advantage, said although sales figures from its members were still being collated, “what we have seen looks encouraging”.
Maribel Lopez, owner of Sovereign Travel in Woking, said she was “quite positive” about peak period sales, while independent travel consultant Debbie Hammond, of Designer Travel, was pleased that she was seeing more bookings rather than just enquiries.
“We would normally have 10 enquiries and perhaps get one booking, but people are not just making enquiries now, they are phoning to book,” she said.
“We have had such a wet year. People are more positive about having holidays this year.”
Thomson, which began its traditional January sales a week early on December 22, reported its most successful Christmas Day sales ever, with bookings
on its website up 90% compared with the same day last year.
Boxing Day proved even more popular for sales, with bookings up by more than 60% compared with 2011, and searches on the Thomson website were up by nearly 30%, with web traffic peaking between 11am and noon on that day.
The most popular summer holiday destinations booked with Thomson on Christmas Day and Boxing Day included Tenerife and Majorca.
British Airways saw a 75% increase in the number of people booking holidays on Christmas Day compared with last year and a 58% rise on Boxing Day.
Bookings with online travel agency On the Beach during the Christmas period were up 80% compared with last year.
Virgin Holidays reported its best ever day of online sales, with the company saying that its figures from January 1 showed a 212% leap in passengers booked via the website compared to the same day last year, breaking its single-day records for the most bookings and the highest rate of conversion and revenue taken.