Agents are meeting rapidly increasing demand for domestic holidays and staycations while the government continues to offer little by way of a clarity on the outlook for international travel this summer.
Nearly a third (30%) of respondents to TTG’s latest fortnightly Travel Agent Tracker survey reported new enquiries for domestic breaks in the UK and Ireland in the two weeks to Friday 5 February, up from just 16% a fortnight earlier.
The number of respondents reporting new domestic bookings, meanwhile, trebled over the same period, increasing from 7% to 21%, meaning one in five agents made a new domestic booking in that time.
Staycation demand has also increased significantly; in the two weeks to Friday 22 January, just 12% of Tracker respondents reported new staycation enquiries, putting it fifth in the list of holiday types charted by the Tracker behind beach holidays (69%), city breaks (25%), cruise holidays (23%) and touring holidays (18%), and level with adventure holidays (also 12%).
A fortnight later (two weeks to Friday 5 February) and staycations are now the second most enquired-after holiday type, with 27% of respondents reporting interest from clients in a staycation – second only to beach holidays (59%).
They are also now the second most commonly booked type of trip with 18% of respondents in the two weeks to Friday 5 February reporting new staycation bookings – one in five – up from just 6% a fortnight earlier and matching the trebling of enquiries.
Beach holidays continue to prove the most commonly booked, with 39% of agents reporting new beach holiday bookings in the past fortnight.
For more insights from TTG’s Travel Agent Tracker, sign up to TTG+; agents wishing to join TTG’s exclusive Travel Agent Tracker panel should visit ttgmedia.com/tracker.
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