Tui has issued an open “thank you” letter to independent agents as sales through third-parties have risen during the peaks selling season.
Bart Quinton Smith, UK and Ireland marketing and sales director, said: “Recent figures demonstrate an increase in bookings through independent agents, especially over the past weekend, with Saturday standing out as a particularly buoyant day.
“This upturn in bookings comes despite a soft start to the year on the High Street with unpredictable weather impacting footfall.”
Quinton Smith’s new role was announced just before Christmas, with him moving from his post of First Choice managing director on January 1, to succeed Neil Swanson.
He issued the open letter to agents to thank agents for “their hard work despite the challenges”.
Tui said it has seen strength in the family market with free kids’ places driving volume and growth coming through the Holiday Village product over the last four weeks.
Long-haul has performed well over the month for agents with Mexico and Dominican Republic coming out on top.
Egypt and Cape Verde have also proven popular among holidaymakers with “exceptional” agent booking numbers.
“We’d like to express our thanks to all of our trade partners,” he said.
“We remain confident that our strategy to strengthen our relationships with the trade is working and we will continue to see steady growth in bookings across both beach and cruise products.
“Now the UK weather has returned to some normality we are hopeful that we will see more bookings as consumers look ahead to their holiday plans for the year.
“We would like to once again thank the trade for working with us in such a collaborative way and wish them a successful selling period for the weeks ahead.”
More: Tui adds two new Spanish destinations to city-break range