Tour operator Blue Bay Travel has reported January was its busiest ever month for online holiday sales.
Mauritius, St Lucia, Tobago and Greece were the most popular destinations and 97% of the January bookings were for departures within the next 12 months.
Overall bookings in January surpassed January 2022 by 11%, and January 5 was the busiest single day of sales in the company’s 20-year history.
Traditionally a long-haul specialist, Blue Bay Travel’s most-booked destination was Mauritius, followed by St Lucia and Tobago in the Caribbean.
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Greece, which is a new destination for Blue Bay, was the fourth most popular, followed by the Maldives in fifth place.
Almost 30% of the January bookings were for getaways departing in the current winter season and just over half (53%) were for travel in summer 2023.
Furthermore, 15% of the bookings were for winter 2023-24 departures and only 3% were for summer 2024 and beyond.
Alistair Rowland, Blue Bay Travel chief executive, said: “The travel industry has enjoyed a bumper month of bookings and Blue Bay Travel is no exception.
“January is traditionally a busy month for holiday bookings and our January 2022 trading was strong.
“However, with the cost-of-living crisis a concern for many, no one was sure how it would perform this year.
“It seems that customers will cut down on every other element of household spending they can, in order to have that annual holiday and offering low deposits from just £150 per person is also helping customers to budget.
“The return of consumer confidence in travel, now that Covid travel restrictions are a relatively distant memory, has also contributed to the rush of sales we’re enjoying so far this year, particularly for summer 2023 holidays but also late bookings for departures in the next two-three months.”
As a tour operator, Blue Bay Travel sells package holidays direct to consumers and also, exclusively, via travel agent members of The Midcounties Co-operative’s Travel division, Your Co-op Travel, Co-op Travel Consortium, and The Personal Travel Agents in Partnership with Your Co-op.