The day is predicted to be the busiest of the year for holiday bookings according to the UK’s largest travel company, based on booking figures over the past five years. 

Turkey, Montenegro, Halkidiki, Croatia and Cape Verde are being tipped by Tui to prove popular this year, fuelling a rise in the volume of mid-haul holidays.

Holidaymakers are also “shunning” traditional seven and 14-night beach breaks in favour of shorter 10 and 11-night holidays, which Tui said it “expected to become the new normal”.

Holiday bookings in store peaked at around midday during ‘Sunshine Saturday’ last year with Tenerife, Palma and Lanzarote the top three destinations.

Goa, Costa Rica and Vietnam are tipped to be the high demand long-haul destinations together with multi-centre holidays.

New Asia cruises being offered by Marella Explorer for 2018 include Koh Samui in Thailand.

Richard Sofer, commercial director for Tui UK and Ireland said: “Over the last few years we’ve seen an early booking trend for summer holidays and this week we expect this trend to continue with our busiest booking day of year taking place on Saturday.

“This year we expect to see Brits returning to classic mid-haul favourites such as Turkey and exploring new destinations such as European hotspot Montenegro, which is set to be the new mid-haul gem, as people look for holidays that offer more than just a week on the beach."