NEWS


LEAFING LAS VEGAS: About 60 agents from 27 travel companies enjoyed a day out at the third annual ‘Camp Vegas’. The annual sales mission, hosted by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, was held at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire and included outdoor activities, educational game shows and board games designed to improve knowledge of the city and the state of Nevada. Agents from companies including Hays Travel, Barrhead Travel and DialAFlight took part in the networking day with the LVCVA and 10 partner companies, which all held presentations. Prizes were also given away to the most-engaged agents, with a holiday to Vegas won by Owen Bennett from Travelbag.


Agents report surge in ‘late late bookings’ as clients seek value


Juliet Dennis


The trade has reported a sharp rise in late sales as holidaymakers continue to seek out cheaper deals at the last minute and are put off by peak prices. Agents said the boom in “late


late bookings”, including for May half-term, represented a repeat of the weeks prior to the Easter break. The Advantage Travel


Partnership said May had been its top-selling departure month for the past two weeks, accounting for an average 21% of weekly volumes, in part driven by the May half-term. June was its next biggest seller, followed by July. Chief commercial officer Kelly


until very late to decide whether to travel. Summer months are selling well but there is more growth in the shoulder months overall.” Idle Travel director Tony Mann


said even the recent spell of warm weather in the UK had failed to dampen late sales, adding: “We’re selling more lates than normal.” But summer prices remained a


STORY TOP


sticking point for families, he said. “I think they’ll wait until prices come down a bit in June,” he added, but warned against “dramatic” price drops by


suppliers later in the season. Agents said suppliers were


continuing to provide good-


value offers to stimulate late sales. Seaside Travel head of business


Cookes said this indicated late sales were “very late” this year. Overall, 39% of Advantage’s bookings last week were for the next 12 weeks. She added: “We saw the same


last-minute pattern for the Easter holidays, with consumers waiting


travelweekly.co.uk


and commercial Paula Gleeson said: “There are some absolute bargain prices about, lots of free child places, and families are still prepared to take kids out of school purely for price.” Travel Stop owner Bridget Keevil


agreed, adding: “Prices are still high for summer but out of the school


Summer lates are


picking up pace already but we’re still booking spring bank holiday weekend getaways


holidays there are bargains to be had.” Hays Travel personal travel


consultant Ryan Lambton noted: “In other years, it’s not been this mad [in lates], and the deals weren’t there. Suppliers have really cottoned on and put prices down.” Barrhead Travel cited value as


key in the current market. “Value is the common denominator across bookings just now – customers want to make sure their budget is going as far as possible,” said managing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell. “Summer lates are picking up pace


already but we’re still booking spring bank holiday weekend getaways for those wanting some sunshine.” Protected Trust Services reported


a pick-up in lates but said most consumers were either booking “late last-minute departures” for June or early July or for peak summer, rather than May. Executive director Emma Collis


said: “The general consensus across membership is people are booking closer to departure date.” Vertical Travel Group chief


executive Peter Healey remained optimistic about summer sales despite “a lot of unsold capacity” in the market. “I’m hopeful the bookings that were slow to come will come now, as we get to this late-booking season,” he said. InteleTravel UK managing


director Tricia Handley-Hughes said a “sharp rise in short-term UK accommodation” could indicate domestic breaks were replacing “shorter overseas city breaks”. The homeworking group


attributed a 26% decrease in average booking values year on year to a rise in half-term bookings for domestic trips, which are up by 106% year on year.


8 MAY 2025 5


PICTURE: Simon Wright Photography


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