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Agents report sales spike following England's World Cup exit

Monday, 23 June 20143 min read

Agents have reported a surge in holiday sales following England’s early exit from the World Cup.

Advantage said it was still very early to predict the impact but added that there has been a definite spike in sales over the weekend.

Head of commercial, John Sullivan said: "We have seen double digit growth with some of partners in the data we’ve seen thus, though too early to quantify on a more general basis, it will be later today, early tomorrow before we have clarity."

The Travel Network Group said that in Euro 2012 and the 2010 World Cup, there was a ‘significant’ surge in bookings immediately after England were knocked out.

Martin Andrew, commercial director, said: "~’England’s early exit from the World Cup is no bad thing for the UK Travel Industry.

But he added: "The spike in bookings is unlikely to be as dramatic as in previous years, as we have only seen a drop of around 10 per cent since this tournament started versus 20 per cent in 2010."

Thomas Cook reported a "strong day of trading" on Saturday as customers booking holidays in-store cited England’s early exit from the competition as the main reason for wanting to get away.

Cook added that people browsing for a summer break sent traffic volumes on its website soaring to double the level seen just a week earlier, the Telegraph reported.

A spokesperson for Kuoni said: "Since England got knocked out, there has been some uplift in enquiries for last minute travel, but we don’t expect to see the full impact until next week.

"We’re in unchartered territory as England haven’t lost the first two matches in recent World Cup history, so whilst we’re out of the tournament, at this stage the team are still out there and have a match to play on Tuesday.

"We’ve had a weekend of sunshine, which is predicted to break by the end of this week, so that’s when we’re anticipating the Brazil bounce will really kick in."

AITO reported that bookings were still relatively flat, intimating that some football fans are watching the tournament despite England’s departure.

A spokeswoman said: "World Cups and similar sporting events are always bad for the travel industry, which is strange because you can of course watch football wherever in the world you are, in bars and hotels."