The trade has reported surging late sales despite a lack of traditional cheap summer deals and industrial action planned throughout the peak season.
Travel agents say there has been no sign of a slowdown in sales as the market enters the lates period prior to the school summer holiday.
Bookings by Advantage Travel Partnership members for travel in the next 12 weeks have continued to rise and last week represented 46% of sales.
More: Union confirms 31 dates for Heathrow security staff strikes
Chief commercial officer Kelly Cookes reported “strong demand for late bookings” as well as for 2024.
“There is a mixture of people continuing to book for this summer and getting ahead for future seasons,” she said, adding that members weren’t seeing “any impact” of fears of strikes, before they were confirmed by Unite on June 7.
Designer Travel co-owner Amanda Matthews agreed, saying: “Late bookings are very strong. If anything is going to affect sales it’s the lovely UK weather, but it depends how long that continues.”
Hays Travel North West reported strong sales “for all seasons” despite prices being up on average £100 per person year on year.
“Liverpool is performing well with easyJet services this summer and the introduction of Jet2 for summer 2024,” said managing director Don Bircham.
Triangle Travel general manager Sarah Kenton said some clients wanted to book late because they felt it provided “more certainty” that flights would go ahead in the wake of last year’s airline cancellations.
But she noted a lack of cheap deals normally associated with the lates market.
“The discounts have disappeared. Pricing is way over what most people are expecting,” Kenton said, adding: “Clients sometimes feel they’re buying [at] an inflated [price], therefore they’re considerably more demanding as they search for the perfect holiday.”
Kenton said clients worried about disruption to flights were booking alternatives, such as Eurostar or an ex-UK cruise, but customers were generally “more accepting” after seeing the impact of strikes on services outside travel.
Inspire Europe managing director Lisa Henning said the trade had become better at navigating travel problems for clients, but stressed: “It does come at a cost. When there is industrial action, we have to ensure we’ve the necessary resources to offer customers a first-class service. This usually means increasing staffing levels and therefore operating costs.”
The Unite union confirmed 31 days of strike action beginning on June 24 on June 7, with walkouts involving more than 2,000 security officers at Heathrow. The stoppages at Heathrow Terminals 3 and 5 are due to hit every weekend, Friday to Monday, throughout the school holidays.
The airport’s contingency plans have so far limited the impact of strikes, which began on March 31 at Terminal 5, although BA was forced to cancel more than 30 flights a day at Easter. However, an extension of the walkouts to Terminal 3 and to 2,000‑plus staff – hitting Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Delta Air Lines, United and American Airlines departures – threatens to stretch Heathrow’s resources.
The airport has deployed 1,000 ‘casual’ security staff and managers and insisted it would “pull out all the stops” to ensure passengers are not disrupted.
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