New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), issued late last week, showed that total retail sales fell by 0.3% in October and reached their lowest level since February 2021 when the country was under one of the many Covid-19 lockdowns.

The ONS attributed this fall in high street spending to the “cost of living, reduced footfall and the wet weather in the second half of the month”.

Although high street travel agencies are not included in the ONS’s retail figures as holidays are classified as a service, the travel sector continues to defy the economic gloom with consumers prioritising spending on holidays over other areas of discretionary spend.

"We monitor the data closely and it’s been reassuring to see travel continually outperform other sectors in terms of consumer spend and also planned future spend,” said Kelly Cookes, chief commercial officer of the Advantage Travel Partnership.

"The consistently high trading volumes we are seeing for this full calendar year further support this and it’s clear that, wherever possible, consumers are continuing to prioritise that well-deserved break.”

Spending data reports and consumer surveys have consistently shown how travel has continued to fly high this year despite the cost of living squeeze on UK households, although agents – while acknowledging the rebound this year – have stressed to TTG it will take another strong year to get things fully back on track.

Earlier this month, Barclays revealed spending with travel agents rose by 9.6% in October despite discretionary spending levels falling in other areas.

This trend has also been highlighted by Abta’s latest Holiday Habits report, which found that people were “more likely to cut back on other non-essentials, such as eating out, leisure activities and clothes before cutting back on a holiday”.

“When asking customers why they booked with a travel professional, the research found a much stronger focus on value for money compared to last year and also a greater appreciation for the ease of booking, the amount of time it saves and having access to expert help and advice,” added an Abta spokesperson.

Consumer spending trends will be a key focus for Abta’s Travel Trends conference next week too, with Holiday Habits also highlighting a shift towards shoulder seasons.

Covid wash-up continues

Individual agencies have also seen strong booking patterns continue in the past few weeks, particularly in high-ticket areas such as cruise and long-haul travel.

Westoe Travel owner Graeme Brett said the agency’s bookings for cruise and “bucket-list” style trips to destinations such as Australia and Africa were “miles ahead” of pre-Covid levels, although bookings for beach holidays were not growing at the same rate.

"It’s been really good for bucket-list, cruise and UK domestic, whereas bucket and spade is only about the same as pre-Covid – everything else is up and well up on a normal November,” said Brett.

“I’m very happy with the way it’s going, although it’s becoming more difficult to predict whether a week is going to be good for takings or not. It can vary a lot from day to day. It’s quieter on rainy days, but we’re lucky we have free parking right outside the shop.”

Michele Dance, from cruise specialist Ocean World Travel, said its sales over the past six months have “not been this buoyant for about eight years” and are around double the level of this time last year.

"It’s been extremely strong – you’re always concerned going into November and December that you might not be busy, but we’re still performing well in November,” she added. “We’ve had a lot of new-to-cruise clients who are booking cruise in preference to other types of holidays.

"We’re still trying to recover from the pandemic – one year doesn’t make up for Covid so we still need another good year. The wash-up from Covid is still very much on us but it’s exciting not to see so many future cruise credits now.”

Dance’s comments were reinforced at the Advantage cruise conference at the weekend (18-20 November), where Clia managing director UK and Ireland, Andy Harmer, urged agents to tap the vast number of clients in the market yet to take a cruise – but who are open to such a break.

In addition, the conference also heard how the trade was gearing up for wave season, and about some of these first-time cruisers starting to come into the market, particularly those who cruised with their parents.

Stubborn lates demand

Although there are always some underlying fears that bookings “might suddenly fall off the cliff” due to the challenging economic backdrop, many agencies are feeling confident enough to expand their high street footprints.

“Across our membership, there is a healthy appetite for growth and we continue to see businesses looking either to expand on the high street or take on additional locations,” added Advantage’s Kelly Cookes. “This year’s positive trading has continued with both October half-term and Christmas departures outperforming 2019 levels.

“Around 35% of bookings coming through the network on a weekly basis are for departures within the next 12 weeks, so we continue to see that late demand continuing. At the opposite end of the scale, we are seeing bookings come in for as far ahead as 2026.”

Those metaphorical cash tills are still ringing at the country’s travel agencies despite the background of economic gloom, and for now, there’s no sign of that changing.