The boss of domestic group travel specialist JG Travel Group is confident UK holidaymakers will continue to go on staycations despite restrictions easing for international travel.
Chief executive Andy Freeth said Brits had seen what the UK had to offer during the pandemic and were likely to continue travelling domestically in addition to overseas trips next year.
He said: “I don’t think there will be a huge shift [away from UK trips] by families that might go to Majorca. Customers have seen what a good time they can have in the UK. We think the domestic market will always be strong and we think there is plenty of scope to grow.”
Freeth said prices had been held steady although room availability has been tight due to high demand.
He added: “The only challenge we have faced is getting hold of capacity. We have been really conscious of our customers being used to a price point and we want people to have good value so we have not tweaked prices up at all over the summer.”
European holidays account for around 15% of the group’s business, which owns the brands National Holidays, Just Go, Omega Holidays, and Albion Journeys.
Freeth added that the group had not made redundancies during the pandemic and was now recruiting for new staff.
He admitted finding staff had proved challenging with so many employees from other companies on furlough but said this should improve as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends.