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UK storms bring surge of late foreign holiday bookings
THE storms sweeping the country have triggered a last-minute rush for foreign holidays, despite the collapse in the pound.
Holiday firms had been suffering amid Brexit uncertainty, currency worries, airline strikes and the volatile weather.
But operators such as Thomas Cook – which has seen its profits savaged this year – are finding a silver lining to the rain clouds.
Experts at consumer research firm GfK say late bookings in the week ending August 3 rose 8 per cent on last year and last week’s figures were up 15 per cent.
David Hope, of GfK, said: ‘Tour operators will be very pleased with how the “lates” market is performing. The wet weather seen recently will be a contributory factor to the late booking rush. People thought it was going to be sunny right through the school holidays, but that hasn’t been the case.
‘At the same time, we have issues around Brexit and the fact holiday companies have cut prices as they have a large number of unsold packages on their books.’
He added: ‘People are trying to get a holiday in before Brexit because they don’t know how it will affect travel. And holidays are priced quite attractively at the moment because they weren’t sold during the peak booking period in January and February.’
Yesterday, the Thomas Cook website was offering £50 off holidays departing this weekend and early next week, mostly flying out of Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, Belfast or Newcastle.
A 21-night break for a family of four, including flights from Manchester and motel accommodation in Orlando, Florida, leaving on Sunday, is available for £1,750.
On The Beach has deals including a seven-night, all-inclusive holiday for a family of four at Hotel Terramar in Calella on Spain’s Costa Brava, leaving on Saturday, for £2,050. The flight lands in Barcelona, however, so there is a long coach journey to the hotel.
The pound has fallen against the dollar, which has hit bookings. This has led to big falls in the cost of US package holidays.
Emma Coulthurst, of Travel-Supermarket, said: ‘There are holidays available from as little as £300 per person for a family of four this summer. That’s unheard of.’ Spain, particularly Tenerife and Mallorca, remains the most popular destination, but there has been a surge in interest in Turkey, which is outside the eurozone.
There has also been a revival of interest in Tunisia, where tourism collapsed after the 2015 terror attacks.
The unsettled UK weather is linked to an Atlantic front. Today will be cloudy in western and central areas, with sunny spells later. Tomorrow will see strong winds and heavy rain moving east.