Manchester’s Travel Counsellors, one of the first to take travel agents off the high street and into the technological realm when it formed in 1994, has reported its best ever November despite the current economic uncertainty.
The November figures showed UK sales up 66 per cent on 2019, the last year of unrestricted travel pre-pandemic.
Among the figures, Travel Counsellors noted that leisure sales are showing particularly strong growth, up by 75 per cent on 2019 and suggesting that customers won’t let their holidays go without a fight.
This is further reflected in Travel Counsellors’ November customer survey, which revealed 78 per cent of customers strongly agree and agree that their holidays are so important they will still travel next year, with 79 per cent either looking to book as normal, or even earlier than normal, to get the best deal.
Winter travel sales are also healthy, with sales for the 2023 winter period (November to April) already 25 per cent up on 2019 final figures, at more than £170m so far.
Steve Byrne, CEO of Travel Counsellors, said: “Over the last few weeks we have seen higher enquiry levels and value than ever before, as people look towards their 2023 travel and want to book earlier to lock in prices. They also want to book with someone [who] will be there to offer the best advice and tailor travel to suit them. This need for tailormade travel is reflected in the trends we are seeing, with a strong return of the multi-centre, long-haul holiday and popular destinations including Thailand, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
“We are of course cognisant of the current environment and are focused on continuing to support our Travel Counsellors and provide them with the most personal digital platform to enable them to build successful travel businesses, provide the very best service to their customers and celebrate more success in 2023.”
All markets in which Travel Counsellors operates are outperforming 2019, with corporate business sales also on the up by 73 per cent versus pre pandemic figures, with 2,141 bookings made last week alone.
