More than half (53%) of respondents to TTG’s latest Travel Agent Tracker survey said they took more new enquiries in August than they did in July; this is up from 49% who said they took more new enquiries in July than they did in June, and 43% who said they took more in June than they did in May.

The average number of new enquiries among Tracker respondents in August, meanwhile, was 49, up from 46 in July and 44 in June. However, only 42% of respondents said they took more new sales and bookings in August than they did in July, down 1% month-on-month.

When asked to consider what are the biggest issues facing their businesses, two-thirds of respondents (65%) said price increases, up from 44% in July; this puts price increases ahead of all other issues monitored by the Tracker for the first time – and by some considerable margin.

In addition, the number of respondents who said they were converting at least 40% of their enquiries fell from 71% in July to 64% in August. In May, the rate was almost four in five (79%).

The latest Tracker data mirror the findings of a recent membership survey by the Advantage Travel Partnership, which revealed average booking prices were up by 11% compared with 2019, while average booking prices for summer 2023 were up by 46% compared with summer 2022.

"We’re juggling customers’ desire to travel – and their expectation the holiday they want will be available – with the fact prices have gone up dramatically in some destinations and diminishing holiday stock, especially for this year," said one respondent. "It’s been good to have a ‘lates’ season, the first for three years or so, but we can’t always find what the customer wants at prices they’re willing to pay."

Another said: "I’m getting more enquiries, but capacity has been reduced on some routes and prices have increased so it’s sometimes hard to convert those enquiries into firm bookings."

Speaking to TTG, Idle Travel director Tony Mann said despite his agency’s sales continuing to increase, he was concerned the price hikes could put some customers off booking in the short-term. "I’ve been aware when posting our Facebook marketing that we’re advertising holidays which are much more expensive than they used to be, and that it could put customers off," he said.

"Prices were so cheap during Covid when people were travelling sporadically, so it has been a shock to people to see prices rise so steeply. In the past, travel has been too cheap – I do think that kind of cheap budget holiday has disappeared because of the pandemic."

Graeme Brett, director of South Shields-based Westoe Travel, reported an increase in the cost of short-haul holidays, with long-haul pricing remaining relatively static. "People were expecting bargain holidays to be coming up for September and October in places like Greece, but those aren’t appearing," said Brett.

"Our customers want to fly from Newcastle airport – they don’t want to go elsewhere for cheaper prices so price isn’t their biggest concern. It’s likely a bigger issue for agents with multiple big airports locally."

’Very challenging’

Other Tracker respondents highlighted clients’ lack of awareness of demand and capacity constraints. "People don’t realise the demand out there," said another respondent. "I’m spending hours on short-notice enquiries and not coming up with anything within budget because there’s no availability for what the customer wants."

A fourth respondent added: "It’s still very challenging. Consumers are looking for excuses not to book, thinking prices will go down – they don’t realise there is far more demand than availability."

Despite the concerns, managing director of Woodbridge-based Deben Travel Lee Hunt said demand among his more affluent customer-base had defied the price hikes and in some cases increased, albeit while flagging a drop in ski bookings.

"We’re booking the same number of passengers, but value has increased so we’re taking more money," he told TTG. "We’re quite lucky to be in an affluent area where people have lots of unspent holiday money from the last two years – we’ve not seen any impact in terms of putting customers off at all."

Elsewhere, the Tracker recorded a slight decrease in the number of respondents who said their average sales price per person went up month-on-month, 23% in August versus 25% in July, while more than two-thirds (67%) said it stayed the same, up from 64% a month earlier.

However, respondents also reported more discounting in August; 16% said they discounted more often in August than they did in July, while 10% of respondents said they discounted by a higher amount in August, on average, than they did in July. This compares with 3% for July-June.

Overall, almost seven in 10 respondents (69%) said August was a better month than July, up from 63% who said July was a better month than June.