The company said consumer demand for booking holidays had “remained very weak” since the start of the latest lockdown in early January and the reduction in winter flying programmes.
In its latest trading update to investors, On the Beach said bookings were down by 83% year-on-year for the four months from the start of October to the end of January.
The OTA has already decided to stop selling all holidays departing before 1 May 2021 as the pandemic crisis continues. It does not expect demand to pick up until travel restrictions are lifted and the deployment of vaccination programmes is “more widespread” both in the UK and across its major destinations.
Simon Cooper, chief executive of On the Beach Group, added: “The first four months of our financial year have seen differing tiering levels across the UK, followed by the current nationwide lockdown and ban on international leisure travel.
“Clearly this has and continues to impact booking volumes and the board believes that booking volumes will remain weak through H1 [first half of its financial year] and into H2 [second half of its financial year].
“Following the prudent activities undertaken in the last financial year, the group remains in a strong and debt-free financial position. The board is confident about the group’s long-term strategy and we will continue to evaluate the growing range of exciting opportunities to build our market share both in the UK and internationally.”
On the Beach said that it had £39 million in cash at the end of January, as well as access to £75 million in an undrawn credit facility.
