Not Just Travels Ben and Toni Rood on the travel industrys signs of recovery and what clients are looking for when booking breaks in 2021.
There is some real positivity in the air at the moment. Ever since Boris Johnson?s road map announcement we have seen a huge spike in enquiries for holidays, both for this year and next year. Customers definitely have more confidence now. Those that were sitting on the fence in January and waiting to see what happened are starting to book now as confidence returns.
This summer, the UK staycation market is massive, which we thought it would be, but we are seeing lots of overseas bookings as well. Not Just Travel?s Book and Relax policy has helped to reassure people that they will be taken care of, and together with our Covid Travel insurance, that has given people the confidence to say yes to booking. They know that their money and booking is safe even if the worst happens and if things aren?t OK for this summer and beyond. Also, they know they have Covid travel insurance, which really helps to inspire confidence.
We are seeing lots of enquiries for a variety of destinations, Lapland is still popular, as is Greece, Dubai, Crete and Cyprus. Another trend we are seeing is people?s renewed confidence in bookings to America since Biden?s inauguration. Biden seems to be saying the right things and they are cracking on with their vaccine plans for Covid. I read recently that they hope to get all adults vaccinated by the end of July and that?s giving people more confidence. The US is a big market for the UK travel industry, so that?s good news as the vaccine rolls out.
We are also seeing people booking bigger holiday, as they have saved money. We have seen several bookings for holidays over ?10,000. With the UK starting to hit the key road map dates ? such as kids going back to school, people will gain more confidence and things will keep getting better and better. It feels a bit like we are going into Peaks season, which is really nice. There is a real sense of positivity in the air.
