After what was reported to have been a record-breaking start to the summer holidays sales season, it appears that a number of factors have slowed the market down lately: safety, the fall in the strength of the pound against the euro and, according to UK industry sources, the forthcoming EU referendum.
Certainly, last weekend’s May Bank Holiday brought little joy to the Balearics, but tour operators are still maintaining that the Balearics, mainland Spain and the Canaries are “sold out” this summer. The travel trade is now bracing itself for a challenging late market, with customers conditioned to expect bargains but unwilling to travel to certain destinations.
The effective ban on travel to Tunisia and flights to Sharm el Sheikh has taken out two competitively-priced destinations while other holiday hotspots such as Turkey are continuing to prove unattractive, meaning availability is becoming increasingly tight in favourites such as the Balearics, the mainland and the Canaries.
“Already we’re seeing challenges with availability, particularly looking at the families market, with a large percentage not wanting to go to Turkey, which has fantastic availability,” said Lee Hunt, managing director of Suffolk-based Deben Travel. “Unfortunately, it’s somewhere that people have in their mind they don’t want to go to and because of that the Spanish prices have gone up and it is just pricing certain families out of the market. I don’t think the latest market is like it was. It will be even more difficult this year because of supply and demand. A lot of hoteliers are running at high occupancy in places like the Balearics and the Canary Islands because they’re perceived to be safer destinations.”
In February, ABTA warned holidaymakers to book early due to increased demand and competition for accommodation. However, Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, said the EU referendum and Euro 2016 would put some off booking early and likely lead to greater demand for late deals.
“There will be a latent demand for last minute holidays. With the referendum and the Euros, there will be a lot of people who haven’t booked yet. The question is, what’s going to be available. It won’t be Spain or Portugal because they’re full up. It might be Bulgaria or Croatia, and there’ll be lots and lots of room in Turkey. Brussels and Paris (terror attacks) have really made people think.”
Long haul is also performing well.