The number of last-minute August bookings has seen a five-fold increase this year, according to the chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership.
During a televised interview with the BBC on Thursday, Julia Lo Bue-Said pointed to poor weather as one of the drivers behind the surge.
“People want to get away and get the sunshine and really focus on their wellbeing,” she said, noting “the wet weather we’ve had”.
More: Advantage Travel Partnership appoints first-ever partnerships manager
She told the BBC she was unsurprised by the growth of last-minute bookings, based on what Advantage had seen over the last couple of months, but she described the increase as “significant”.
“Typically we would see around 4% of late bookings coming in the month of August, but this year it’s been close to 20%,” she said.
The most popular destinations have been in Spain, she said, with other favourites including Turkey and Greece.
“Outbound travel has had a very turbulent number of years, but it’s really bouncing back,” she said, adding that Brits regard travel as a “sacrosanct” part of their annual budget.