The trade enjoyed a roaring start to the peak booking period on the back of the best early sales for a summer season in years.
Travel agents and operators reported strong enquiry levels since Boxing Day, with some citing their best-ever bank holiday sales on Monday, January 2, following a buoyant December.
Paula Barrett, head of retail at Hays Travel, said: “We had strong sales increases in November and December, and even between Christmas and New Year it was busy. We’ve had more productive days than recent years; it could be the days holidays fell and the fact our ads went on TV on Boxing Day, earlier than usual.
“We had our best bank holiday Monday this week.”
Baldwins Travel opened some branches on bank holiday Monday this week for the first time. Joint managing director Nick Marks said: “There were a lot of enquiries. We are optimistic.”
Miles Morgan Travel increased its post-Christmas TV marketing spend by 40% on last year. Owner Miles Morgan said: “Interest is definitely stronger than last year; our sales indicate that.
“The whole industry has started to up its spend on TV marketing, which creates noise that can only be positive.”
Gemma Antrobus, owner of Haslemere Travel, said overall trading had been positive, while Premier Travel director Paul Waters said: “Early signs are really encouraging.”
Kuoni also reported a “good start” with all-inclusive sales particularly strong.Analyst GfK reported summer 2017 bookings up 11% year on year to the end of November and revenue for the summer up 16%.
All-inclusive sales to the end of November accounted for almost half (46%) of passengers booked to date – 11 percentage points up on the same period a year earlier.
Season-to-date passenger bookings for the current winter were up 15% year on year to the end of November.
GfK declared the January market as likely to “be one of the most interesting in the last 10 years”.