Weeks of rainy weather across the UK this summer has created a surge in enquiries for late summer bookings – even though prices have shot up further in the wake of the wildfires in Greece and other areas of Europe in recent weeks.

Karl Douglas, director and co-owner of Beverley Travel, told TTG the wildfires in Europe had “made no difference” to demand for holidays, while “a bit of rain is always good for business”.

“We’ve noticed a rise in footfall and business has been good – we had a very strong summer last year and we’re keeping pace with that,” added Douglas.

“We always expect it to be quiet at this time of year for bookings but it’s been really busy. There’s been a real mix of business with quite a lot of late bookings. Although it’s not as strong as last year for lates because more people booked early this year.

“Pricing is prohibitive for late bookings but people are determined to pay what’s needed to get away. Some are reducing their length of stay and the all-inclusive market is strong.”

Mark White, managing director of Ocky White Travel in Wales, said the agency has been “so busy” this summer following 18 months of “constant” demand since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in early 2022.

“We’re seeing an increase in the number of frustrated people who have given up on having a UK summer holiday – there’s been an increase in those enquiries and a spate of families still looking to get away in the school holidays,” said White.

“Prices have risen dramatically – Turkey has been outstanding this summer because of the value and it’s been a very popular destination.”

White added that UK holidaymakers seemed to have “short memories” when it came to incidents such as the fires in Rhodes and elsewhere.

“We have people booked to go to Rhodes – the island is open again and we need to support the destination,” he said.

Jennifer Lynch, general manager of ArrangeMy Escape, said they were seeing “a bit of mix” of bookings with some lates and also “a lot of 2024” departures.

“It was up-and-down in July, and picked up towards the end of the month,” added Lynch. “Unusually we’ve had quite a few long-haul lates – like a Canada road trip and some cruises – which are usually booked well in advance.

“Croatia and Spain have been selling well – but Greece tailed off due to the British media reports about the fires. I think it did have an impact on Europe generally as people were saying how hot the weather was. That’s had a knock-on effect on the lates market.

“People have started to get on the lates bandwagon in the last week or so, especially with all the wet weather in the UK. We even did a late booking to Rhodes, as the prices are now quite reasonable.”

Lynch said that booking patterns had been “all over the place”, but one constant trend was that clients “wanted more for their money” despite rising prices and their expectations of agents had also increased.

“The amount of hand-holding we have to do has gone up,” she added. “We’re having a lot more questions and requests than we used to have – such as having a cot in the room or one customer said they can’t have any feathers in the bedding. But that’s fine, that’s what we’re here to do.”

Oasis Travel in Northern Ireland, which will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024, is on course for a record-breaking year in 2023 so far, with summer proving to be “extremely busy”.

Scott McCabe, project director at Oasis Travel, said: “We’ve been selling a lot of cruise, as well as Italy, the Spanish mainland and the Canaries, and Greece has been a big one too.

“Overall, we’re still seeing a lot of pent-up demand. With the cost of living going up, our clients are making travel a bit of a priority and cutting back on other things.

“Of course, nobody wants to pay more for anything but they are still willing to pay for their holiday because they really value it. They may have to cut out certain things or travel in a shoulder period or plan further in advance to get a better price.”

Susan Owen, from Marion Owen Travel, said that while their agency did not specialise in late bookings, they had still noticed a big rise in prices recently.

“Since the Greece fires prices have gone up,” she added. “We had one single mum with a 15-year-old who saw their price to Bulgaria go up by £400, even though it was for a departure in early September.

“Tui and Jet2 have had to move their customers out of affected hotels and that’s put pressure on other destinations.

“We always tell clients to book in advance to get the best prices and 90% of them do that – we’re mostly working on trips for 2024 and 2025 at the moment. We’re seeing more people coming back to retail, as they don’t trust booking online any more.”