The company, which was formed after Leger Holidays acquired the Shearings brand in June 2020, said January’s bookings were currently 217% higher than in January 2021.
The group’s chief executive Liam Race added that the third week in January also saw a weekly sales record – up by 19% on the company’s previous best week in February 2021.
Race said sales of UK holidays remained “extremely strong”, despite the easing of restrictions on overseas travel, with the southwest coast, Yorkshire, Lake District and Scotland all selling well for March to May departures.
Leger Shearings said its most popular destinations in Europe were Italy, Austria, France and Ireland, with the majority of January bookings for holidays departing between June and August. 2023 bookings have also been on the up and now account for 10% of the operator’s sales.
Race added: “The upturn in sales is very encouraging and hopefully the travel industry has finally turned a corner. Last Thursday (20 January) was a record sales day for our business with the week also being a record.
“Momentum has continued into this week, and we are currently set for a record January. Pleasingly, we are also seeing a real upturn in agent sales which are 334% up against last January and starting to get closer to January 2020 levels.”
Race said that consumer confidence had “improved dramatically” following the announcement that most UK testing requirements are to be scrapped.
