Major operators have launched a final sales push before the summer holidays begin as agents continue to report widespread availability and high prices.
Following England’s defeat in the Euros final, Tui, easyJet and Jet2holidays have all advertised last-minute deals.
Jet2holidays, which has £60 off all summer holidays booked via a trade partner, also announced a new WhatsApp community exclusively for agents with news, marketing content and a ‘deal of the day’.
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Alan Cross, director of travel agent relationships at Jet2holidays, said: “The football is over and the weather is bleak. We are doing all we can to capitalise on that demand.”
Tui’s website read: “It’s not coming home so why not get away?” while easyJet holidays promoted a ‘summer price drop’ of up to £120 off for two adults and two children sharing a room across 3,000 holidays in all destinations until September 30.
Agents gave mixed trading reports. Triangle Travel general manager Sarah Kenton warned only “significantly lower prices” could produce a “strong lates surge” after a “challenging” July, with sales just 35% of July 2023.
“Prices remain too high for customers’ budgets. Operators are not discounting enough, despite lots of availability,” she added.
Abbie Heaton, group manager for Blue Bay Travel Personal Travel Consultants, said half of transactions this week were for summer compared with the usual one-third in similar trading periods. “Consumers are inevitably seeking low prices, and this trend is supported by the promotions and additional capacity offered by operators,” she said.
Travel Circle manager David Cookson attributed a late sales surge to “dreadful UK summer weather”, adding: “There is still plenty of summer availability left – I’ve a feeling major operators have overcommitted.”
Sunlounger Travel branch manager Courtney Bunton said they had sold the same volume of holidays on Monday and Tuesday this week as the first 10 days of July. “People are feeling down after the football. They want to escape to the sun,” she said.
August departures took the largest share of The Advantage Travel Partnership’s sales last week. But head of commercial John Sullivan added: “Availability is there, but not at any cost.”