Agents hopeful of ‘biggest-ever’ lates market after election and Euros

Jennifer Lynch, general manager of Worcestershire’s ArrangeMy Escape, told TTG her stores were “filled with clients” on Monday (15 July).

“A lot of enquiries were for lates at the start of the month,” she said. “However, that seems to be changing to forward enquiries now. Our Malvern store is up year-on-year.”

Kate Dixon, manager of Seaside Travel’s Sacriston branch, said the shop had been “exceptionally busy” this week, while Norwich’s Oyster Travel also saw an upturn.

“We came in to quite a few enquiries on Monday, so I wonder if maybe people had enough of the game and thought of booking a holiday,” said managing director Vicky Samwell-Buckenham.

“Around election times, we tend to go a little bit quieter in terms of the amount of enquiries we receive, but I would say it picked up dramatically last week.”

Travel by Hannah managing director Hannah Porter agreed. “Instantly after the election, we gained expected levels of bookings as they had dropped significantly for us in the two weeks prior,” she said.

The outlook is supported by figures from homeworking and franchise agency Not Just Travel, which reported a 25% increase in last-minute bookings following the election and the Euros.

Co-founder Steve Witt said booking levels this week were comparable with January.

“With the conclusion of the Euros, the general election result bolstering economic stability and consumer confidence, consistently disappointing weather and our travel consultants actively engaging their client networks, everything is perfectly aligned,” he said.

“We are seeing a significant sales boost as we approach the summer holidays,” Witt added.

Agents said last-minute bookings were driving business. ArrangeMy Escape’s Lynch told TTG she was seeing late bookings come in August – always a busy month for departures, but rarely bookings.

“We are seeing enquiries coming in,” she continued. “We are hearing a lot more people booking online, which we didn’t seem to have in summer 2022/23 due to coming out of Covid. I would expect us to have more throughout the August period, but again, it isn’t our biggest booking month.”

Dixon said Seaside Travel was ready to convert a lot of late enquiries in the next few weeks.

“We are having customers come in wanting to go literally a few days later, and I think this is what we will have for the next three to four weeks,” she explained. “Whether it’s for a last-minute family holiday or adult-only getaways in September, we have it covered and we are expecting lates to be bigger than ever before.”

Meanwhile, Porter told TTG she is advising clients to book ahead to avoid disappointment.

“The lates market is saturated for sure – we have been advising clients to book ahead since last summer, so some of that kicked in thankfully.

“However, some customers are getting a bit of a shock with the limited availability left for summer 2024 and the prices – we’re sharing any late specials on our social media, which do gain interest.”