The growing economy and rising consumer confidence have yet to feed into holiday bookings despite booming demand being blamed for a backlog of passport applications.
Latest figures from industry analyst GfK show season-to-date bookings for this summer down 1% on a year ago, despite a good start to the year. GfK reported bookings down 11% year on year in April and 3% down in May.
Tour operators and agents at the Aito Agents conference in Prague at the weekend confirmed the difficult state of the market, blaming a late Easter and the World Cup now under way.
Sunvil managing director Chris Wright said: “Sales dropped off in April and further in May, but it seems a specific sector is depressed – those who book within eight weeks of departure.”
Wright said: “The bucket-and-spade market tends to be hit by the World Cup – it will be interesting to see if it bounces back.”
However, Spear Travels managing director Peter Cookson said: “May and June have been on a par with last year and people are booking a lot later, even long-haul.
“People who would have booked a year in advance for Australia are booking six weeks in advance.”
Kirker Holidays sales and marketing director Ted Wake said: “Let’s not panic about the lack of demand – it will come back as soon as England are knocked out of the World Cup.”
Cockermouth Travel managing director Paul Cusack was upbeat, saying: “We had a dip in April, but things are positive overall.”
GfK reported revenue from summer bookings flat year on year to the end of May. However, package sales remain 2% up year on year for the season and all-inclusive bookings up 3%.
Family bookings were also up 3% to the end of May.
The Passport Office reported it had received up to 400,000 more applications this year than last as the government announced emergency measures to tackle a backlog.
An independent review has been ordered into the agency’s forecasting system.