The Midcounties Co-operative has reported bookings across its travel group are up by more than 100% since the UK government announced it will ease Covid-19 travel testing rules.
Net sales for the travel group – which includes 76 Your Co-op Travel high street agencies, more than 135 independent agency members of the Co-op Travel Consortium and 165-plus Personal Travel Agents – were up by 105% for Sunday-Wednesday (January 9-12) compared to the same period in the week before.
Sales for homeworking brand, The Personal Travel Agents, were 153% up week on week. Half of the travel group’s bookings were for summer 2022 departures and almost a third were for imminent, winter 2021-22 departures.
A spokesperson for The Midcounties Co-operative, said: “It’s wonderful to see the positivity generated by last week’s announcement translating into really strong sales for our business.
“The significant change to the travel rules from our own government last week, coupled with the news that holiday hotspots such France are easing entry requirements for Brits, has inspired confidence in our members and customers and given bookings a welcome boost.
“The France news has triggered a raft of super late bookings for ski as members and customers hit the slopes for the remainder of the season.”
The most popular week for bookings is currently May 28-June 4, as customers look to take advantage of the two extra bank holidays for the Queen’s Jubilee and the school half-term break.
The biggest-selling destinations are the Canaries, Balearics, Turkey, Greece and Croatia for this summer, and, for winter 2022-23, the top sellers are the Canaries, Sri Lanka, New York and Barbados.