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Travel agents are warning of rising holiday prices and an impending shortage of summer availability – caused by pent-up demand for future trips, and thousands of postponed bookings from last year.
“We’ve already seen an increase in bookings for this summer with Greece and Turkey currently being the most popular choices for customers, followed by the Balearic and Canary Islands,” a TUI spokesperson told Telegraph Travel.
Meanwhile, Thomas Cook reported “an immediate jump in holiday bookings as soon as people finished work for Christmas”.
Package holiday prices are largely driven by the cost of flights, says Craig Ashford, Director of Marketing at travel agency TravelUp – and as demand rises, so too will holiday prices, he warns. “Airlines are trying to stimulate the market so there are some phenomenally low rates. As confidence returns the total number of airline seats will remain the same, so the cost will rise. My strong advice is to book now.”
The UK’s domestic travel industry has also been warning of limited availability this year. “The pent-up demand for Easter through to 2022 is really high,” said Alistair Handyside, Executive Chair of The Professional Association of Self-Caterers UK. “Anyone who has not booked a holiday in the UK soon will be looking at the leftovers.”
Scroll down for more on this story, and other breaking news.
Yesterday’s headlines
Before we begin, here’s a quick recap of Wednesday’s news:
- Passengers to be banned from boarding flights to UK without negative Covid test
- Cruise sector in need of ‘urgent’ guidance from government
- Social media is full of celebrities on holiday in Dubai – are they above the law?
- Stansted to close terminal overnight after flight cancellations
- ‘Vaccine passport’ could become a requirement, says Fauci
Now, on with today’s stories.