The market is late – but stable

The average number of new enquiries taken by respondents to the Q3 Tracker was 60, down from 70 in Q2 (-10%), while the average number of new sales and bookings made by respondents was 48, down from 56 in Q2 (-8%).

Nonetheless, half of our Q3 respondents said this was more new enquiries than they took in Q3 last year, while 52% of Q3 respondents said this was more new sales and bookings than they made during the same period a year ago.

Around a third of respondents, meanwhile, said their figures were roughly comparable with Q3 2022, with only around 15% telling us their figures for new enquiries, sales and bookings were down on 2022 in the three months to 30 September.

With certainty in short supply over the past three-and-a-half years, levels of new enquiries, sales and bookings have clearly stabilised over the past year – and certainly since the days where the fate of some sections of the industry hung on Grant Shapps's Thursday afternoon tweets.

One key thing to highlight, though, is just how late the market remains; nearly a fifth of respondents said between half and three-quarters of their bookings during Q3 were for departures within 12 weeks, up from 16% in Q2 and from 11% in Q1.

Meanwhile, more than a third of respondents (36%) said between a quarter and half of their business during Q3 was for departures within 12 weeks; this compares with 42% in Q2 and 39% in Q2.

Pricing remains agents' number one concern

As it has been for much of the year, pricing – and increasingly – price matching direct quotes and OTAs continues to be agents' biggest headache. Nearly three in five respondents (58%) named price matching as the biggest issue to affect their businesses in Q3, up from 47% in Q2.

Price increases, meanwhile, have been the bane of agents' lives since the start of the year; 49% of Q3 respondents said it was their biggest issue, up from 48% in Q2 and down from 56% in Q1 – consistently up there among the biggest challenges.

Anecdotal commentary from our Q3 respondents underlines this. There was a dramatic increase in the amount of comments from agents lamenting the number of clients – new and old – coming to them with quotes from OTAs or direct-sell operators.

"Lots of people will come in store for quotes and request agent knowledge," said one respondent. "[They] then go home and compare quotes online – and book online." Another said: "We're not able to beat online pricing, and people are expecting more for their money."

All-inclusives coming into their own

With the cost of living squeeze ensuring belts remain tightened up and down the land, there's a clear uptick in agents making bookings on an all-inclusive basis.

The Tracker has charted all-inclusive bookings for several years now, but for the Q2 Tracker, we included a question specifically on whether agents were experiencing an increase in clients enquiring-after, or booking, all-inclusives.

The figure in Q2 was 45% Yes to 55% No, with the Yes vote increasing to 51% in Q2 and the No vote falling to 49%, meaning more than half of Q3 Tracker respondents told us they have experienced an increase in clients seeking all-inclusives.

All-inclusives were the third most commonly enquired-after sector / holiday type in Q3, after beach holidays and cruises, and also the third most commonly sold or booked – again, after beach and cruise, a trend that has been consistent throughout the year.

Some of the comments on the Q3 Tracker highlight the challenges posed by a late market colliding with a cost of living crisis: "Many clients are waiting until the last minute [to book], when price and capacity become a stumbling block," said one agent.

Another said: "Enquiries have dropped a little – I think people are looking at Christmas and how much that will cost before holidays at the moment."