Boom in holiday bookings
Over-65s bet on freedom to travel this summer
PENSIONERS are behind a boom in bookings for European summer holidays and coach trips.
Vaccines should in theory free them from restrictions earlier than the rest of the nation.
And it appears they have anticipated this freedom by making plans for a summer getaway.
Holiday firms will now need to rethink what trips they offer to ensure they suit elderly travellers.
Questions remain over whether younger Britons will be able to take a foreign holiday this summer.
Trips abroad may be possible from this spring but travel restrictions could last through much of the year.
Some countries may require proof of a double vaccination, which could disqualify millions of Britons. Others could insist on proof of a negative Covid test, which might add hundreds of pounds to a family holiday. The coach holiday arm of National Express says bookings made by over65s have increased by 185 per cent in the last fortnight compared with last year. Ninety per cent of these are for holidays in the UK.
National Express head of holidays and travel, Jit Desai, said: ‘Since the announcement of the vaccine, it’s given our customer base, predominantly those over 65, increased confidence to book and have that summer getaway in 2021.’
He told the BBC: ‘We launched the brochure for spring-summer 2021 just this weekend gone, and on Monday we took a week’s worth of bookings in a day and that’s continued so far.’
TUI, the UK’s largest tour opera-more tor, says half of current 2021 online bookings are made by over-50s. It is seeing a lot of bookings for September and October, possibly to allow time for second vaccinations.
Managing director Andrew Flintham said: ‘ We’re seeing a customer base or age group that wasn’t booking before, the over-50s. We assume it is on the back of the vaccine news.’
He added: ‘People are booking longer holidays, we’re seeing more people booking ten or 11 or 14 nights rather than seven. People are maybe catching up on what they’ve missed.’
TUI has also seen a rise in bookings for large family groups including grandparents and toddlers.
But travel industry expert Paul Charles suggested claims of a bookings surge from older people were overblown. ‘There is thin demand to travel right now due to the restrictions in place,’ he said.
However, he does believe bookings will pick up due to ‘enormous pentup demand to travel from all ages’.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, warned travellers to ‘ book with caution’ even if they’ve been vaccinated. He said they could be left out of pocket if other countries are closed to tourists.