“Many of our clients are near the top of the queue for the vaccine and are starting to plan ahead”

Steve Goodenough, Managing Director, Arena Travel

Although still relatively small numbers, bookings in January almost doubled those recorded in December, so it has certainly been an encouraging start to the year. As the vaccine rolls out, we expect things will continue to pick up steadily from February onwards.

As specialists in tours and trips for more mature travellers, including river cruises and escorted holidays by rail, many of our clients are near the top of the queue for the vaccine and it is clear that they are starting to plan ahead. Approximately half of our bookings this month to date have been for single travellers, many of whom have really felt the effects of lockdown and are the keenest to get back to travelling with like-minded people.

Hobby holidays

We have seen our European river cruises and UK escorted rail itineraries doing well, reflecting interest in getting out and about to explore closer to home as soon as it is safe and possible to do so. Bookings and enquiries for our specialist products including our crafting, art history and garden tours, as well as our bridge playing holidays, have also been noticeably picking up since the turn of the year.

Although demand does seem to be on the rise, we still expect to see a strong lates market, but capacity will be far more limited than in previous years due to the high volume of passengers already transferred from 2020.

We hope to encourage clients to book early with flexible cancellation policies in place they can be sure that their bookings are safe should there be further restrictions to travel. arenatravel.com