Travel agencies are enjoying a surprisingly strong start to January sales but many predict the best peak trading days are yet to come.
Hays Travel, Barrhead Travel and Miles Morgan Travel reported the best day in their trading history on January 6, so-called Sunshine Saturday.
Hays Travel described January sales as off to a “flying start” with margins not “compromised” despite good value offers in the market.
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Chief operating officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston admitted: “We had anticipated trading this January might not reach the same levels as last year, when there was still a lot of pent-up demand from the pandemic. However, early indications suggest this peaks could be just as strong as last year.”
Miles Morgan Travel chairman Miles Morgan said: “Trading is superb with Saturday being the best single days sales in our 17 year history.”
Sunshine Saturday ‘better than expected’
Advantage Travel Partnership bookings were up 7% and revenues up 27% on the same week in January 2023, itself a record month for the sector.
Chief commercial officer Kelly Cookes said: “Sunshine Saturday lived up to its name and 25% of the week’s volumes came in on Sunshine Saturday. We expected it to be strong but it was even better than expected.”
In total, 56% of bookings were for summer but shoulder months took a larger share than July and August, with May and September “particularly strong”, she said.
Similarly, summer bookings made up around half of Blue Bay Travel’s volumes, while winter made up 35% and next winter 15%. Chief executive Alistair Rowland reported a 50% hike in Saturday’s sales while the full week traded 15% up.
However, Dawson & Sanderson said the week started slowly, with stores shut on January 1, while the Sunderland v Newcastle FA Cup game also impacted sales on Saturday before a “huge increase” on Sunday.
Regional manager Donna Jobling said: “Although trading was strong there were a couple of days that could have been better. Putting that aside, it was a strong week.”
Independent Travel Experts’ best trading day was on Friday, January 5. So far 53% of bookings have been for summer; 25% of which were for families, with a quarter of these for school holidays.
Margins ‘holding up well’
Managing director Gary Gillespie said: “We’ve not seen an increase in discounting beyond usual levels and as a result our margins are holding up well. Likewise, average booking values remain consistent.”
Tivoli Travel director Jo Richards said January sales so far were double last year’s. “I’ve never known it so busy in all my time in the industry,” she said, adding: “We are absolutely mobbed. I’ve been working until midnight to keep on top of enquiries.”
Sales through Fred Olsen Travel shops were up 35% year on year for the first week of January based on its expanded shop portfolio. Director of retail Paul Hardwick said margins were “really strong”, with discounts 1% of overall sales, in line with the yearly average.
He added: “Our margin is nearly 1% higher than it was pre-pandemic during peaks as customers do still value what an agent adds to their booking so is not always looking for a price-match or discount.”
Price match requests
But Seaside Travel reported more requests to price match discount codes on Tiktok and Instagram. Brand manager Richard Lowrey-Heywood, who predicted peaks this year would surpass last year, said: “Customers are much more savvy now [than pre pandemic]. We are seeing more price matching this January compared to last because we have three more shops and are doing more bookings.”
Henbury Travel managing director Richard Slater said it had become normal for customers to make “cheeky” requests but added: “There seems to be an increase in people asking us to send them all the booking details before booking so they can try to do it themselves online. There are a lot of ‘unreal’ budgets and people looking for the cherry on top but only willing to spend about £3,000.”
The agency’s sales for January so far are 11% up on January 2023, but in November were 200% up year on year and in December were 25% on the previous year. “We might have peaked early,” he said.
Slater also said many tour operators were “bigging up their trade teams and promising lots to agents” but when it came to their advertising, not including a call to action to contact a local agent. He called the move “disappointing but not unexpected”.
Many agents said they still expected the traditional sales peak over the last two weekends of January.
Sutton Travel managing director Andy Tomlinson said: “We’ve had a really good start but we expect it to get busier.”
Idle Travel director Tony Mann agreed: “I still think the last Saturday will be the busiest after pay day.”
Pole Travel director Jill Waite said: “We always get busier at the end of January when people get paid.”
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