Clients holding out for late deals even if it costs them, agents say

Reyes agreed. She told TTG that while families were proving hesitant and booking "a bit more last-minute", they were still keen to get away, with Mediterranean destinations proving popular owing to its proximity.

"A lot are asking for two- or three-hour flights – they don’t seem to want to fly any further," Reyes said, something she put down to recent air travel disruption.

Ponders Travel managing director Clare Dudley flagged the popularity of Greece and Turkey for all-inclusive stays and were preparing to pay a premium for the certainty.

"We certainly don’t have people with silly budgets, everything has been fairly sensible,” said Dudley. “It’s been nice because we’ve managed to make a good margin as they all have been decently priced holidays.”

Karl Douglas, co-owner of Beverley Travel, last year’s UK & Ireland No.1 agency in the Top 50 Travel Agencies by TTG, said people were ending up paying more by waiting as prices have increased throughout the summer period.

“Customers booking now are going to pay more than they would have paid if they had booked in January,” he continues. “I would always say book as early as you can to secure what you want.”

Not every agency has had a stellar lates period, though. Thorne Travel managing director Shona Thorne said many Thorne clients had banked on prices dropping further than they have, and were pivoting to booking ahead for summer 2025 instead.

"We think people didn’t factor in how expensive the lates market was going to be," she said. "Customers thought prices would come down a lot more than they actually have.”