Nearly half (49%) of respondents to TTG’s latest Travel Agent Tracker survey, covering trading in July, said they took more new enquiries in July than they did in the June, up six percentage points month-on-month – the first time this measurement has increased since April.

More than four-in-10 respondents (43%), meanwhile, said they took more new sales and bookings in July than they did in June, up five percentage points month-on-month. It is the first time this measurement has increased since May.

The average number of new enquiries in July was 46, up from 44 in June, while the average number of new sales and bookings was 34, up from 29 in June. However, despite the broadly positive outlook, respondents raised concerns about the increasing price of holiday travel, capacity and availability, and the cost of living crisis.

One respondent said their biggest challenge was convincing clients now was the time to book. "Space will soon be limited," they said. Another said: "Customers still expect 2019 prices. When they see how much holidays now cost, they can’t be converted."

"The price of holidays even out of season are madness," added a third. "There is no way the average family is going to be able to afford a holiday with the prices that are showing."

The July survey saw 44% of respondents flag price increases as one of their biggest challenges, up from 37% in June, and 24% availability and capacity, up from 21% in June.

Others highlighted the "concerning" cost of living situation, flight costs and availability for late-minute September and October long-haul bookings, flight cancellations and threats of industrial action, a lack of staff to convert the volume of new enquiries, and call waits.

There was, though, an 11% percentage point decrease in respondents (57%) reporting "getting hold of suppliers" as one of their biggest challenges, while only just over half of respondents (51%) ranked airport, airline and flight delays and disruption as a major issue, down 16 percentage points.

"We have been super busy," said one agent. "Some days, we don’t have enough staff to deal with enquiries. The admin is taking up a lot of our time due to long wait times for operators. The value of bookings has increased massively – people are spending a lot more money and looking for different types of holiday to your typical bucket and spade ones."

Another said: "Enthusiasm is returning for more adventurous trips, which is a real positive, but availability is tight. Higher prices are putting a few people off but generally people are accepting costings."

’Amazing buzz’

Their comment went hand-in-hand with a spike in respondents telling us the adventure touring sector was performing well relative to their expectations, up 13 percentage points month-on-month to 19%. There was also a strong rebound for cruising with 55% of respondents saying the sector was performing well relative to their expectations, up from 44% in June.

A quarter of respondents said their average sales price per person was up on June, level with the rate a month ago, while there was a 6% increase in agents saying their average sales price per person in July was above £1,000 (up from 13% in June).

Agents are discounting less often and by lower amounts too. In May, 15% of respondents said they discounted by in excess of 10% on average. This fell to 3% in June and 0% in July. Meanwhile, only 8% of agents said they discounted more in July than they did in June. This is down from 15% when comparing June and May.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) said July was a better month than June – the same amount as said those that said June was a better month than May.

"A real mix of emotions [in July] dealing with new enquiries and bookings and people travelling again, but still having to deal with issues of flight delays, reschedules and cancellations," said one respondent. "It’s a bit soul destroying to still be dealing with all these issues rather than ’doing the job’."

Another added: "It’s great – business is booming. A new customer said the other day: ’Wow – I forgot what it was like to book a holiday in a travel agency. The buzz in here is amazing.’

"The main challenge is getting hold of suppliers, which is slowing us down to get quotes to customers. This has an impact on our service, at times. The beginning of the month [August] has continued to be busy."