Travel agent panel: How is summer 2009 shaping up?

How is the recession affecting sales?

Lindsay, sunshine.co.uk: We’re actually up on certain months last year and we’ve noticed people are booking more expensive holidays. We’re not seeing as many bookings for two-star properties as we are the four and five-star all-inclusives. Our best sellers are Turkey and the US at the moment.

Laura, Escape: We’re busy at Escape, but we’re definitely noticing more demand for all-inclusives than traditional hotels. People are a bit scared of the eurozone. Turkey and Egypt are our best sellers at the moment as well as long haul.

Is the eurozone really that bad?

Neil, Travelmania: There’s definitely been an increase in bookings to Turkey and Egypt like everyone has said, but people are still travelling, particularly to Majorca and Ibiza; but perhaps in smaller numbers than before.

All-inclusive is definitely up for us, too: people like to know what they’re spending when they get there.

What about booking lead times – are people hanging on even later?

Neil: I’ve noticed a massive difference, even compared with last year. We’re a last-minute player anyway, but people haven’t even started asking about July, August or September yet.

Kimberley, bookableholidays.co.uk: We’re getting a lot of enquiries for September, not always bookings though.

Lindsay: We’ve been busy over the past couple of weeks and a lot of our clients are asking about September too – but they’re asking for prices and suppliers are holding back.

Have any trends surprised you recently or are you selling the same as you did last year?

Laura: Nile cruises and multi-centres in Egypt are selling – three nights in Cairo, a Nile cruise then a week in Sharm el-Sheikh. I’ve sold lots for this year.

So have suppliers been slower to get prices out this summer?

Laura: A lot of the accommodation we have is only priced for mid-May to early June. It was definitely earlier last year.

Lindsay: I think they’re waiting to see what happens with the euro and the economy.

Zsophia, Chase Travel: We’re often told the contracts are waiting to be signed; the operators seem to be contracting a bit later.

Neil: They’re definitely being more cautious. No one wants to bulk book a lot of beds and find they can’t fill them; it’s a big risk.

What about the rest of the cruise market? Is it as profitable as everyone says?

Natalie, Escape: We’ve only just started selling them – we offer Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises – and we had so many calls already. We put an ad out three weeks ago and have had about 20 calls so far.

Zsophia: We’ve been doing cruises for about six months and yes, so far it’s been busy.

Laura: It’s a good sale and a good profit. It’s a £3,000-£4,000 booking – it’s obvious that’s where the money is.

What about training and fams – are there still opportunities to get away?

Lindsay: This is my first fam but I’ve only been with sunshine.co.uk for two months. In the past year,we’ve probably had about six. We all take it in turns.

Zsophia: We don’t get loads. I’ve worked for Chase Travel more than a year and this is my first.

Natalie: I’ve been with Escape seven years and I’ve done two. But depending on what you sell, there are opportunities to go to Australia, Dubai or South Africa. We do get the invites and they go around the call centre.

Neil: It’s my first in four or five years, but we do get a lot of invites.

Kimberley: This is my first after a year at bookableholidays.co.uk. We do get quite a few invites, but they have to go around the office.

• Find out what agents thought of PortAventura in Matthew Hampton’s fam trip report