Homeworking agency Not Just Travel claims its sales in the week after Christmas were up by about 50% year-on-year, with nearly half (43%) of bookings for travel in the next 12 weeks.
Steve Witt, co-founder of Not Just Travel, said consumer confidence about travelling abroad was increasing “as the news surrounding the Omicron variant of Covid becomes more positive”.
He said: “People want to escape and enjoy warmth and sunshine; they are not worried about travel restrictions which we predict will ease.
“Pre-Christmas sales were down because the situation was still uncertain and people were waiting for their booster jabs. Now as things progress, confidence is building again.
“The traditional model of peak sales, where there is a huge rush to book on Boxing Day onwards, has also changed. We won’t see quite such a big, extreme peak in January.
“2022 peaks will be elongated but we’ll see a big surge again for last-minute bookings too.”
The agency says trips to Lapland for Christmas 2022 have almost sold out already and cruise sales have increased four-fold compared to the same period last year thanks to the ‘seacations’ that operated in summer 2021.
However, Witt warned of limited availability as cancellations in 2021 mean there is pressure on hotels, resorts and airlines for capacity.
Dubai was Not Just Travel’s top-selling destination on Christmas day, and Spain and Canaries were the best-sellers during the final week of the year.