The Personal Travel Consultants in Partnership with Blue Bay Travel saw overall sales during January, February and March exceed its 2019 numbers by 60%, with Spain and Greece accounting for more than 20% of all new bookings.
"Spain is, as ever, a perennial favourite, topping the popularity chart and accounting for 11.5% of all bookings made by our homeworkers in the first quarter of this year," said sales manager Abbie Heaton.
"Greece is our second-strongest performer. Following the popularity generated last year by its lower Covid rates and lenient entry requirements, Greece accounted for almost a tenth of all bookings made in Q1 2023."
Another key trend observed by the brand, said Heaton, was increased demand for long-haul "bucket-list" travel, with the Caribbean proving particularly popular thanks to its wide-ranging options for adults-only all-inclusive breaks.
Blue Bay’s homeworkers have capitalised on resurgent cruise demand, with MSC Cruises’ northern Europe sailings from Southampton claiming top spot as the group’s most-booked holiday overall, and cruise as a whole sitting third behind Spain and Greece in terms of booking volumes.
"Cruise companies continue to offer good incentives for agents, as well as hugely competitive deals for customers and, for many, it also ticks the ‘bucket-list’ box," said Heaton.
Bookings resulting from self-generated leads continue to outperform customer-led leads during Q1, accounting for 54.5% of bookings – "a more even split" compared with last year, said Heaton, when the rate was 65%.
"It’s great to see PTCs being able to utilise Blue Bay leads in conjunction with their own customer leads to boost their businesses," she said.
The group’s top individual performer generated "record" revenue of £500,000 during the quarter, with Polly Gould taking a single Barbados booking worth £79,000 and a further six each worth in excess of £10,000.
Blue Bay also highlighted Rebecca Bagnoli’s "exceptional sales", including several European holidays running to more than £10,000.
"We have seen our best first-quarter to date thanks to the hard work of our agents and in-house support team, which is an excellent indicator of the renewed appetite for travel and confidence in booking through agents," said Heaton.
