The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Flight bookings taking off for 2021
Airlines are seeing a surge in interest for trips early next year – particularly to the UK. Greg Dickinson reports
There was a chink of light for the much beleaguered travel industry this week as it emerged that there had been a significant increase in bookings for flights in January next year, with a 229 per cent year-on-year increase in inbound flight bookings to the UK.
The research, carried out by the digital travel marketing solutions firm Sojern, was interpreted as a sign that international holidaymakers were confident that the UK could be open for business again by then.
The data looked at flight bookings made in the past 14 days. It also revealed a 171 per cent increase for bookings to Spain; even Italy, which has reported more coronavirus deaths than China, is showing an upward trend for January next year.
The upturn could be due to airlines revealing their winter timetables early and releasing more flexible booking and cancellation policies. Middle Eastern, European and North
American travellers are keener to reinstate their travel plans as soon as possible, the research shows, while holidaymakers from Asia are proving more reluctant to book flights.
Speaking to Telegraph Travel, a number of tour operators and travel agents were hopeful that 2021 could be a bumper year for travel.
Sam Bruce, director at Much Better Adventures – a tour operator specialising in activity trips around the world – said: “I see no reason why the industry cannot bounce back quickly.
“People still want to travel, perhaps more so after the experience of being shut indoors. The overwhelming message we’ve been getting from our community who have decided to push back their trips with us is that they very much want to do the trip, and are happy to wait a bit longer for it.”
The upbeat news came as a welcome respite for a travel industry that has been one of the hardest hit as a result of the sweeping lockdowns and travel bans in place across much of the world.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has warned that the pandemic could cut 50million jobs in travel worldwide. Asia is expected to be worst affected, with up to 30million jobs at risk. The WTTC forecasts seven million jobs at risk in Europe and five million in the Americas.