Hays Travel reports bookings down 9% as Middle East conflict continues

Hays Travel has reported its bookings this week are 9% down year on year because of the Middle East conflict – but that is an improvement on the previous week following the outbreak of war.

Dame Irene Hays, the owner and chair of the travel agency group, said she was not surprised bookings have fallen.

“We have a dampening of people booking and an increase in people wanting to either change their holiday or perhaps cancel,” she told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

She said the main issues relate to airport hubs in the Middle East and long-haul eastbound flights, noting: “Dubai handles approximately 200,000 passengers a day, so anything transiting east, so onwards say to the Maldives, India, Mauritius, we have a problem with capacity there.”

However, she said there is still “lots of available capacity” in the west and Europe, adding: “Short-haul is dominating, and the winners there are Spain, Portugal [and] Italy.”

She said prices had already increased compared to last year but continued: “At the moment, we are still seeing lots of capacity at reasonable prices across Europe, and obviously cruises are also incredibly popular.

“In fact, for some cruise lines last week, the number of bookings had actually increased.

“Cruises can obviously change their itinerary [and] change their destination. They have a flexibility that land-based resorts do not.

“At the minute, it’s Europe and cruise which [are] increasing in bookings.”

Asked about the reputation of the Middle East travel market, she told the programme: “Having gone through several difficulties over the last 46 years, and everything from ash clouds through Covid, insurgencies and more, the British population are an island nation of travellers, and they want to travel to new and different places, be that west or east.

“In my opinion, this will come back.”

She said clients will always want to visit the likes of the Maldives, Mauritius and India but may be “a bit more circumspect” about where they fly over.