Scottish travel agents have seen an increase in late bookings, with a third of recent bookings departing in the next three months.
The findings come from a new report by the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA), which also showed 26% of departures are in the next six weeks.
The majority of travel is to Europe, but both the US and the Caribbean are the next most popular destinations.
However, the survey also showed SPAA members are still facing many hours of additional work in relation to last minute cancellations, heightened for Scottish agents having to accommodate connecting flights through London.
More than a third of agents said it takes more than two hours to get through to some companies. A number of agents said they regularly wait up to six hours get through to airlines, cruise companies and tour operators by phone.
Mike Tibbert, president of the SPAA, said the pandemic was "catastrophic" for the travel sector, but just because holidays have resumed, "it doesn’t mean the problems are over".
"Because travel was one of the hardest hit sectors of the economy, there were understandable reductions in staff across all travel operations," he added. "We’re seeing this impact with both flight and holiday cancellations."
The survey also shows the Scottish travel agent sector is recovering strongly from an "unprecedented" period of negative income. Half of all Scottish agents are struggling to recruit new team members and a fifth of agencies are working with local schools and colleges to find new trainees.
Meanwhile, Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel, said the start of the Scottish school holidays has prompted additional demand for summer getaways.
"More than one in two new bookings are for the summer period and enquiries for last minute trips are on the rise," she added.
"Despite headlines about disruption, people are determined to get away and are entrusting travel plans to reputable travel agents to make sure there’s support and financial protection in place in case of unexpected travel changes."
Europe has proven to be the most popular destination for last minute holidays for the agency because, according to Dobson, there are "still deals to be found".
"Operators have been adding value, such as offering limited time free child places for summer travel, which has helped stimulate more demand. The US is also rising in popularity thanks to the release of testing requirements with Orlando rising within our top five destinations this week," she concluded.