Some 98% of respondents said they had received new enquiries in the two weeks to 29 October, the highest rate since the Tracker was launched in April 2020 during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
There was also a new record for the number of agents taking at least one new booking over the same period, which reached 93% in the latest survey – an increase of eight percentage points on the previous survey.
There was a slight drop in the average number of enquiries to 25, down from 29 during the survey covering the first half of October, while the average number of bookings also dipped from 20 to 16 between the two reports.
Agents are being helped by a high proportion of repeat customers which accounted for an average of 44% of all bookings.
The trade is also being boosted by bookings for autumn 2021 and winter 2021/22 departures, which will help to boost cash flow in the coming months. Some 79% of agents have taken bookings for winter holidays in the past two weeks.
Next summer is also performing well with 69% of agents taking booking for departures for summer 2022 during the fortnight.
US reopening
Enquiries and bookings to North America, meanwhile, have continued to rebound ahead of the US finally reopening to UK visitors on 8 November. Just over half of agents (55%) received new enquiries for the US and Canada, ranking third for demand behind the Mediterranean and Caribbean.
This was also reflected in bookings with 38% of agents taking bookings for North America, which was the same level as the Caribbean, with both regions ranking behind the Med at 59%.
Beach holidays continue to dominate sales with 72% of agents taking booking for this type of holiday, followed by cruises (36%), city breaks (34%) and domestic breaks (20%).
Despite the clear increase in bookings and enquiries, agents still face plenty issues with the top three currently being the testing burden and hassle to travel (58%), followed by clients’ worries about testing positive for Covid before or during travel (52%), and an increase in admin caused by the coronavirus (50%).
TTG’s Travel Agent Tracker is a benefit of TTG+ membership. You can find out more about the Tracker here and TTG+ membership here.
