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Tomorrow (Saturday) is predicted to be the busiest day of the year for holiday bookings, according to Thomson and First Choice.
More than one million people are expected to go online or visit their high street agents on what is being dubbed ‘Sunshine Saturday’ based on booking patterns over the last five years.
The Tui Group operators are expecting to see 37,000 customers book to go on holiday in 2015. Bookings are predicted to peak in-store at 2.30pm and online at 8.30pm.
Thomson and First Choice also expect record numbers of consumers to search for and book their holiday on a tablet or smartphone. More than 40% of the online bookings made this Saturday are expected to be made via these devices, up 10% on last year.
With the introduction of the new MyThomson and MyFirstChoice apps with search and book function, Thomson and First Choice are predicting a new mobile booking record for 2015, beating last year’s single purchase of nearly £14,000 for a family holiday to Orlando via a mobile device.
The most popular short/mid-haul destinations for the coming year are anticipated to be the Balearics, Canaries and Greece, while Costa Rica, Mauritius and Mexico are set to top the long haul list.
Thomson Cruises’ Cuban Fusion and Pride of Panama winter itineraries on board Thomson Dream are expected to be best sellers based on the ship’s new home port in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
With Thomson Celebration also based in Caribbean for winter, replacing the Dream in its previous port in Barbados, Thomson Cruises also expects to see strong demand for the already popular itineraries sailing to Antigua, St Kitts and St Maarten.
Departures from Dubrovnik on-board the Thomson Celebration in the summer are also expected to be popular with adult-only itineraries available.
Thomson and First Choice commercial director, Andrew Flintham, said: ‘With Christmas now out of the way many people feel they need a holiday in the sunshine to look forward to.
“Over the last few years we’ve noticed that our customers are booking holidays earlier and with searches over Christmas hitting an all-time high, we’re expecting the rush to continue with our busiest day of year this Saturday.
“It’s also the perfect time for Brits to take advantage of some of the great new year deals available to places like Croatia and Greece or further afield to Costa Rica, Thailand and Jamaica.”