As the cost-of-living bites demand for holidays remains strong

• Cruising, cities, and Christmas markets among booking trends
• Lates market appears to be the new ‘norm’
• More Brits using ‘human’ Travel Agents

The Advantage Travel Partnership, Britain’s largest consortium of independent travel agents, has revealed the recent booking trends its members are seeing as the travel industry continues to recover from the disruption of recent years.

Popular destinations – holiday bookings to short haul destinations bounced back quickest as restrictions lifted and customers selected tried and tested destinations to travel to. Top selling destinations include Spain, Greece and Turkey. Advanced bookings for next summer are starting to show similar trends with the Canary Islands topping the leader board for this winter and Tenerife leading as the most popular islands. Demand for skiing holidays is also gaining momentum as skiers look to return to the slopes.

It’s all about cruising – confidence in cruising is coming back strong as the changes in travel requirements make it less complex to set sail, and members have seen an increase in the number of cruise bookings over the past few weeks. 

The city is back – many Brits kept their distance from cities during the height of the pandemic, but since vaccine and testing requirements have lifted, city breaks are a trend that’s back. Members are seeing bookings steadily increasing with strong sales for Krakow, Prague and Reykjavik. This winter there is also increasing demand for Christmas markets across Europe, as many Brits missed their festive trips during the pandemic.

Rise in All-Inclusive – the Partnership has also seen an increase in demand and bookings for All-Inclusive holidays, as Brits look for ways to budget for their getaways in 2023 and get control of their holiday spend. Turkey is again proving a popular destination for 2023 as it offers a wide range of All-Inclusive resorts to suit different budgets and is known as a destination that offers good value for money.

Lates market the new ‘norm’ this year – in a recent impact analysis*, 50 percent of Advantage members said sales for Summer 2023 were below pre-pandemic volumes, as a result of a late booking trend. Booking data also shows that customers are booking an average of 12 weeks or less before departure, which won’t come as a surprise as travel restrictions imposed by the UK government didn’t ease until mid-March, impacting confidence in early bookings for this summer. In addition, travel measures around the world, including the EU, were typically still heavily restricted.

Average booking prices on the up – with pent up demand for travel, members have seen an increase in average booking prices. This year the average booking price is up 11 percent compared to 2019. For summer 2023 there’s been a significant increase, with average booking prices up 46 percent compared to 2022.

Business travel restart – the bounce back of business travel has not been as strong as leisure. However, many members have seen a stronger than expected restart, reporting that sales for some industry sectors are already hitting 2019 levels. But there remains a large degree of wariness about what 2023 holds against a backdrop of capacity constraints, pricing and travel restrictions remaining in some parts of the world.

Long stay winter holidays increase as cost-of-living bites – with consumers concerned about rising energy bills this winter, enquiries for long stay winter holidays and working holidays have increased in recent weeks. The Partnership anticipates an increase in bookings for long-stay winter holidays as Brits switch off their heating and escape to sunnier and more affordable climates.  With more businesses having ‘work from anywhere’ policies, people appear to be exploring every option available to them.

More Brits using agents – travel in a post-pandemic and post-Brexit world is becoming ever more complex. This has resulted in more travellers choosing to book with a travel agent as they want a more personal and human interaction, as well as the reassurance of knowing there is someone there to turn to if required. A survey conducted by The Advantage Travel Partnership this summer showed 94 percent of members are seeing an increase in new customers, 30 percent reported these new customers fall into the 35–44-year-old age bracket, with 33 percent of new customers aged between 45-54 and 15 percent over 60.

This trend has also been echoed across the Partnership’s business travel community, as more corporate clients review their travel management needs, in light of the last few years of disruption, and look for more support. Corporate clients are also looking for an increased level of guidance around traveller wellbeing and making more sustainable travel choices.

Members have also seen an increase in companies with previously ‘unmanaged’ travel get in touch as they no longer feel comfortable managing their travel needs internally and feel they need professional help from a Travel Management Company (TMC).

Kelly Cookes, Chief Commercial Officer, The Advantage Travel Partnership, said:

“While we expect the next 12 months to be challenging, we remain optimistic about the future. Travel and holidays have always been an essential for millions of Brits, with spending on holidays prioritised over other household spending.

“Whilst the ongoing cost-of-living crisis will undoubtedly remain high on everyone's agenda, consumer confidence to travel remains high. Many are eager to make up for the lost holidays of the past two years and combined with destinations across the world further easing travel restrictions, our members are in the best possible position to support all travellers.

“Our advice to customers looking to pick up a good deal, would always be book early to take advantage of the best deals and low deposits.

“We are working closely with over 250 leisure and business travel suppliers, to support our members respond to these market trends by having access to the widest choice of product and prices, so they can serve all customer needs to provide the best deals and service.”