This turn-of-year sales momentum looks set to continue into February, with Joanne Dooey, director of Scottish agency Love to Travel, hailing January the business’s best since it opened in 2015. “I’ve not seen queues like this since the mid-90s – we’re absolutely delighted,” Dooey told TTG. “What the shops are bringing in is comparable to what we saw in the 90s too. People are spending more and upgrading.”

Advantage Travel Partnership members have been reporting daily bookings growth of 30%-60%, said chief commercial officer Kelly Cookes, while Miles Morgan, founder of Miles Morgan Travel, added desks were full at his agencies.

“It’s been a long time since it’s been this buoyant,” said Morgan, whose 18-branch business posted a record January “by quite a sizeable margin”, albeit with sales peaking a little later in the month than usual – a trend which eventually saw Saturday 21 January deliver a new record day in the agency’s 16-year history. It’s been great for staff morale – the buzz has returned."

Mark Delaney, director of Travel Circle in Preston, added: “It’s been fantastic in terms of footfall. Even if we just plod the last week of the month, we’ll beat our best month ever. We’d beaten all of December after three days in January. There are not enough of us. I’m sat upstairs with a customer as we’ve got no desks free!”

’Just book it’

All of this is reflective of a much-hoped- for post-pandemic prediction being realised – shoppers returning to travel consultants to book their holidays – with both Dooey and Morgan reporting an influx of new clients. “We have seen a lot of people who haven’t booked with us before,” said Dooey. “They’ve had bad experiences booking themselves or online. Some are saying they haven’t booked with a high street agent for 15 years.”

It’s not just traditional retail agencies making record sales either. Travel Counsellors had taken £70 million in January sales as TTG went to press, with Wednesday 18 January the business’s biggest ever sales day at £5.53 million. Stand-out bookings for the homeworking giant included a gorilla experience in Rwanda costing more than £250,000 and an almost £90,000 Nile cruise.

Not Just Travel, meanwhile, recorded its highest average number of bookings per consultant ever in the penultimate week of January, with booking revenues more than double the same period in 2019 and commission up by more than 60%. A “sharp” focus on cruise since September has tripled bookings compared with pre-Covid levels, with cruise sales now representing nearly 20% of the homeworking firm’s business.

Sales are coming thick and fast despite holiday prices and some in-destination costs being higher. “We’ve not had the usual slow burners – clients are coming in, we’re giving them a price and they’re saying ‘just book it’,” said Dooey.

“The US is popular again, which I’m really surprised by because of the costs over there. There’s a bit of a ‘sod it’ attitude. People have had enough and want their holiday. Plus, they know if they book it they can pay it off. We’ve had a lot of enquiries for 2024 for Florida.” Delaney added: “It’s strange because people are spending more – we’re not having to discount that much.”

Clare Dunne, managing director of the Travel Broker in Dublin agreed: “This year, people are booking rather than just enquiring.” However, she added that while the agency was busy, business was not quite “back to the boom days where every call was a booking”.

But she agreed the “quality” of bookings had improved. “Clients are spending more and upgrading, maybe to the balcony cabin or sea-view room, because they haven’t had a holiday in a while and they want to make it nice.”

Perseverance ’paying off’

Travel Network Group chief commercial officer Vim Vithaldas told TTG average booking values were up “across the board”, with strong volume growth in mainstream breaks and cruise, and long- haul and touring “catching up slowly”.

Vithaldas said clients were generally requiring more reassurance to convert. “There’s lots of shopping around and still a lack of confidence due to all the past travel disruption,” he said. “But the rewards for delivering great service are paying off. Our members are seeing the benefit of the service levels they provided throughout the pandemic.”

Barrhead Travel president Jacqueline Dobson said there were there “no signs of the market slowing down”. “Our clients are telling us they want to book as early as possible to make the most of savings and having the chance to manage monthly payments,” she said. “Multiple bookings at once are more common too, with some branches reporting customers booking up to three holidays in one go.”

Dooey, Morgan and Cookes all reported lates representing about 30% of bookings – an unconventional but welcome trend for January. “A lot of members are still servicing debts from the pandemic,” said Cookes. “So having the cash coming in promptly helps.”

Beyond traditional big hitters like Spain, Greece and Turkey, cruise and villa bookings are thriving, while Dunne, Dooey and Cookes all highlighted a boost in bookings for city and short breaks to place likes Prague, Dublin and Krakow.

Dooey said: “We are seeing quite a surge in city breaks. We’re getting some new destinations from Scotland, so we’re pushing them out in mailshots and on social. A lot of people are getting inspiration from these new routes.”

Dunne added clients were booking short breaks in addition to their main summer holiday. “People want a quick week or few days in the Canaries before the summer to break up the winter – I’m a firm believer that you need to get off this island once in a while!”