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Greece and Turkey lead late holiday sales revival
Tuesday, 24 Jun, 2009
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Late summer holiday sales are beginning to take off with Greece and Turkey leading the way, according to online firm youtravel.com.
The accommodation-only firm claims more than a fifth bookings are for travel within four weeks.
The volume of late bookings has peaked at more than 20% over the past six weeks as consumers start to make firm travel plans for the high season.
Overall bookings are up for the first half of June with booking numbers rising by 15%.
The company is seeing particular growth in Turkey, Portugal, Greece and Tunisia – all saw double-digit growth in May.
The fastest growing destinations so far this year are in Greece with both Rhodes and Crete are up 27% compared to this time last year.
Turkish resorts are hot on their heels with growth of 11% for bookings to Bodrum and 21% for Dalaman.
Another region seeing an upturn in bookings is the Costa del Sol which has seen a sales boost of 14% compared to this time last year.
Sales and marketing director Paul Riches said: “Greece and Spain have been stalwarts of the British travel industry for decades, it’s going to take more than currency fluctuations to put the Brits of travelling to these destinations. They’re entrenched in our holiday psyche, are familiar and are easy to access.
“On top of this there are some great value all-inclusive resorts in Spain and Greece meaning that the strength of the euro can be largely mitigated.”
The increase in late booking for the pre-summer shoulder season is being mirrored in September and October, Riches added
“Historically, the shoulder seasons are hard to sell whilst the peak July and August weeks are booked heavily in advance. This is not the case this year.
“Consumers – including families – are leaving it later to book due to financial uncertainty and the hope for better deals nearer to departure.
“This is an important sign that there is further recovery to come for the peak months of July and August.
“The instability in the economy and jobs market has forced people to make their travel decisions far later than usual.
“However, in our minds, there is no doubt that booking levels will continue to grow in the next few weeks, even before the peak season hits us.”
*Read Paul Riches’ TravelMole Guest Opinion
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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