Several agents told TTG they weren't expecting demand to truly take off until "second Saturday" (10 January) and for it to ramp up throughout the month and beyond, echoing a recent TTG survey of 100 travel agents – nearly a third of whom are preparing for a later start to peaks.

Shifting consumer habits seem to have lessened January’s hold on agents, with booking patterns far less concentrated in recent years. Andrew Earle, founder of Andrew Earles Holidays, attributed the change – in part – to high demand and limited availability, which is forcing consumers to plan further ahead.

“If people want a late holiday, they can get one, but they need good lead time if they want to book something special,” he said. “That’s why we’re seeing more activity earlier than expected. For example, this November and December, we received a lot of interest in 2027 bookings for Disney World Orlando."

However, Earle revealed this meant his agency would have more capacity to serve existing, and particularly new, clients this year. “Some of the clients we normally see in January have already booked," he said. "We’re very much on the search for new clients to ‘fill in the gap’, as it were."

Less impactful January softened by Sunshine Saturday sales boost

Thorne Travel owner Shona Thorne revealed that while she was “looking forward to peaks”, she accepts the season "isn’t the way it used to be." "We expect January and February to be busy, as opposed to just January being this massive driver for business," she added.

Many agencies expect Sunshine Saturday to deliver a sales boost in the face of an overall less impactful January, with Henbury Travel director Richard Slater claiming it "helps focus the minds of the consumer". "There's still a place for Sunshine Saturday, but September and October are as good for new bookings as January is," he explained.

He added that "any high street agent" can expect to "do well" this Saturday, but that marketing was essential. "The message needs to go out in the local media," Slater insisted. "We've got digital billboards up focusing on long-haul departures from Manchester Airport, as well as a window logo."

Beverley Travel director Karl Douglas agreed on both fronts, adding that bookings levels had been helped by the "clear weekend", with consumers given days to recover from New Year festivities. "We're fully staffed up, and have all the marketing ready to go through our VIP Club loyalty programme," he said. "We're just hopeful that there will be some bounce-back after last year’s doom and gloom, and people are focused on getting some sunshine."

Advantage Travel Partnership also expects a slight delay to peaks, with commercial director John Sullivan predicting that subsequent Saturdays in January will see "even higher volumes" than Sunshine Saturday, which is already expected to be a "significant" day for bookings. 

He added that members had reported a "busy start to the year", with average booking values rising by over 6% compared to last year.

'Slow burn' expected for luxury agents

Luxury agents are also anticipating a slower start to the year, although this comes as less of a surprise to agencies used to clients who tend to "browse first" and are typically making much larger purchases.

"People take more time to make decisions – it’s not as spur of the moment,” said Huben Travel director Ben Eddon-Carruthers. "We have a slow burn throughout the year, which balances out the higher-value holidays. A busy day for us is four or five clients, rather than someone every 20 minutes."

Swords Travel co-founder Stuart Swords agreed peaks bookings would be a "slow burner" for luxury agents. "There’s no one around yet in Wimbledon Village – they’re all in their second homes,” he said. "We don’t expect an influx of business straight away. It'll be a slow burner. We expect it to pick up more in February and March.

'Cold snap' and 2026 Fifa World Cup push January bookings

Meanwhile, operators – including Tui and Jet2holidays – are preparing for a "typically busy Saturday". Tui credited the cold snap and the 2026 Fifa World Cup for driving bookings, which has so far led to a "really positive start to peaks," according to Jill Cunningham, director of retail, omnichannel and third-party sales.

Jet2holidays also flagged the chill as a potential springboard for bookings. "With the UK currently experiencing a cold spell, it is no surprise holidaymakers are looking to escape and will be rushing to book their getaways this weekend," said a Jet2 spokesperson, who listed the Canaries, Balearics and mainland Spain as the mainstream destinations with "strong demand".

OTA Loveholidays said booking data for the two weeks preceding Sunshine Saturday (15 December to 28 December) underlined that while households remain "value conscious", "holidays continue to be an essential spend".

The OTA said spring was emerging as a new travel "sweet spot", with April and May the two most popular departure months being booked right now for beach holidays as customers seek greater value and to avoid peak summer crowds.

Other trends include late winter sun demand for Egypt and Morocco, and the rise of "alternative beach destinations" like Albania, bookings for which are up by 224% compared with the same period last year.