US specialists reported continued strong forward and short-term demand as Virgin Atlantic and British Airways temporarily set aside rivalries with a dual take-off to celebrate the reopening of transatlantic routes.
Olly Brendon, chief executive of ATD Travel Services, said bookings on Monday were 40% higher than average for November as travel to the US restarted, with Orlando and the West Coast particularly strong.
Brendon said: “Consumer confidence in booking the US has been building since the border announcement in September. In October, we served just over 30,000 customers travelling to the US which is 30% up on October 2019 levels.
“Trading on Monday was 40% higher than the average in November due no doubt to the extensive media coverage of US-bound planes taking off full of Brits for the first time in 600 days.”
He added: “Customers are telling us that they are willing to incur the cost of testing and potential delays at the border if it means they can have their dream US holiday.
“I am confident that demand for 2022 and 2023 will remain strong.”
Ocean Holidays co-chief executive Harry Hastings said enquiries were up 20% week-on-week following a sharp upturn in October, when business returned to pre-pandemic levels. He reported a “surge in last-minute business” in addition to strong Christmas and forward bookings.
Hastings said: “‘For the first time in what has felt like forever, we have a really healthy volume of our customers due to travel in the coming weeks and months who will actually travel.
“Between ticketing those pending Christmas bookings and a rush of last minute business we couldn’t be happier to finally take off.”
Gold Medal sales director Nick Hughes said US sales had largely driven the trade-only operator’s strongest sales month since the start of the pandemic in October, and added “the high-profile nature of the restart will only have helped to whet travellers’ appetites”.
Hughes said the majority of US bookings were for 2022 but there were “a lot of enquires” from agents for December travel and Christmas breaks.
He said: “Overall, October was our best month for sales since the pandemic begun, and that was driven largely by the uptick in demand for travel to the US that we’ve experienced since the border reopening date was confirmed.
“Florida has regained its top spot as our most in-demand destination, with the majority of bookings for travel next summer – although so far in November, we’re also receiving a lot of enquiries from agents whose customers want to get over the pond in December. Christmas shopping breaks are doing really well.”
The easing of US border restrictions attracted widespread coverage in the national media on Monday, with Virgin and BA’s dual take-off from Heathrow to New York (pictured) capturing attention.
Abta said 18% of people who intend to holiday abroad hope to travel to the US over the next year – making it the second most popular destination UK holidaymakers say they plan to travel to.
The Advantage Travel Partnership said both leisure and business bookings to the US had increased. But chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said warned “travel remains incredibly complicated” and reiterated the importance of booking with an agent.