Speaking to TTG, Idle Travel director Tony Mann said despite his agency’s sales continuing to increase, he was concerned the price hikes could put some customers off booking in the short-term.
"I’ve been aware when posting our Facebook marketing that we’re advertising holidays which are much more expensive than they used to be, and that it could put customers off," he said
"Prices were so cheap during Covid when people were travelling sporadically, so it has been a shock to people to see prices rise so steeply. In the past, travel has been too cheap, and I do think that kind of cheap budget holiday has disappeared because of the pandemic."
Mann’s comments come after the latest TTG Travel Agent Tracker survey found 65% of respondents were most concerned about price increases, rising from 44% in July.
Elsewhere, The Advantage Travel Partnership reported an 11% increase in average booking prices compared with 2019, and a 46% increase in prices for summer 2023 compared to 2022.
Despite the concerns, managing director of Woodbridge-based Deben Travel Lee Hunt said demand has stayed the same and in some cases risen – despite a drop in ski bookings.
"We’re booking the same number of passengers, but value has increased so we’re taking more money," he told TTG.
"We’re quite lucky to be in an affluent area where people have lots of unspent holiday money from the last two years – we’ve not seen any impact in terms of putting customers off at all."
Westoe Travel director Graeme Brett reported an increase in the cost of short-haul holidays, while long-haul remained static.
"People are expecting bargain holidays to be coming up for September and October in places like Greece, but those aren’t appearing," he said.
"But our customers want to fly from Newcastle airport, they don’t want to go elsewhere for cheaper prices, so price isn’t their biggest concern. It would be a bigger issue for agents with multiple big airports locally."
