Nearly half of respondents to TTG’s latest Travel Agent Tracker survey (48%) said they took more new enquiries in April than they did in March.

This reverses what has this year – to date – been a downward month-on-month trend following the unexpectedly strong peaks that followed the easing of the UK’s Omicron travel rules in January.

April also saw the trade halt a similar month-on-month decline in new bookings, with 40% of respondents to the April survey telling us they took more new bookings in April than they did in March, matching the 40% recorded in the March survey.

More than seven in 10 respondents (73%) said the amount of new business they took in April – enquiries, sales and bookings – exceeded the amount of amendments, rebookings and cancellations they dealt with in March, up 2% month-on-month.

Meanwhile, nearly six in 10 respondents (57%) said they were currently converting at least 40% of new enquiries, while almost a quarter (24%) said they were converting upwards of 60%.

Overall, 61% of the respondents to the latest survey said April was a better month than March, up from 54% who said March was better than February – the first time this measure has increased this year.

“A slightly slower month than March, but that was expected, and it was still our best ever April for sales,” said one respondent. Others, though, noted a range of challenges spanning call wait times with suppliers, low consumer confidence, passport issues and delays, and price hikes, plus the ongoing issues arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the mounting cost-of-living crisis.

For the second month in succession, the biggest issue for respondents was getting through to suppliers (50%, up 4% month-on-month) followed by price increases (33%, up 10% month-on-month).

Several respondents told us they had clients debating whether to pay final balances, while others were baulking at moving their holidays to next year, as the difference was greater than sacrificing their deposits.

Less a fifth of respondents (20%) said their average sales price per person in April was higher than in March, down from 24% a month earlier when asked the same about March pricing versus February.