The third Monday of January seems to bring a collective need across the nation to escape, or at least have a break to look forward to, no matter how far away it may seem. Last year Funway saw a spike in bookings with sales up by 7% on Blue Monday.

The travel industry use a variety of tactics and marketing campaigns to convey messages to consumers and drive more sales and brand awareness. Blue Monday is a great example of this as it can be used as a marketing ploy to raise awareness and drive more holiday bookings for a company.

Although ‘Blue Monday’ has been criticised for being nothing more than just a marketing ploy, figures suggest there is truth behind the theory. Our data shows a clear and simultaneous decrease in requests to colder destinations and increase in enquiries to warmer destinations on previous Blue Mondays.

The change in consumer behaviour suggests that UK holidaymakers have tired of the cold weather and are planning their next sunny getaway. This year is no exception with the threat of more cold temperatures and maybe even snow in the UK this week – all of which may also have played a part, with people keen to escape to warmer climates in the future.

Of course we are in peak booking season at the moment, and for Funway, our star performers so far are New York (up 42%); Las Vegas (up 54%) and California (up 51%).

It’s been an excellent start to the year and we are confident Blue Monday will encourage even more people to book and beat those blues.