Supply tightens for ‘safer’ short-haul

Thomas Cook has already reported increased demand for Spain and long-haul destinations, with fewer people heading to Turkey this summer. Rival Tui Group has noted a similar situation.

However Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, said the EU referendum and Euro 2016 would put some off booking early and likely lead to greater demand for late deals.

“There will be a latent demand for last minute holidays – with the referendum and the Euros, there will be a lot of people that haven’t booked yet. The question is, what’s going to be available?” he said.

“It won’t be Spain or Portugal because they’re full up. It might be Bulgaria or Croatia, and there’ll be lots and lots of room in Turkey. Brussels and Paris [terror attacks] has really made people think.

“Demand is also strong from Germany – they are also not going to these places; they all want Spain. The fear of overbooking will not be exaggerated this year,” he added.

Meanwhile, the shortage of supply in “safer” short-haul destinations is opening up other destinations and sectors for agents to tap into.

Hunt said his agency was finding “great value” with long-haul holidays.

“Although year-to-date our passenger numbers are down, our sales are up the best part of 20% because we’re finding we’re converting more people to go long-haul,” he said.

Steve Pattenden, owner of Double S Travel in Bedfordshire, suggested that the cruise market could be another of the beneficiaries.

“There’s a lot of tonnage that’s chasing a lot of people, and so prices are very keen at the moment. “We saw our cruise business grow by 20% last year and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.”

Online travel agency Planet Cruise has also cited a “significant rise” in cruise holiday sales, claiming to be 25% up for this summer compared with 2015.