A Welsh travel boss has revealed there\u2019s a massive demand for sunshine holidays with bookings up by 25 per cent on pre-Covid levels.<\/p>\n
According to Hays Travel North West managing director Don Bircham, January is the peak period for the industry with families desperate to escape the cold, wet and gloomy weather.<\/p>\n
This year the numbers are 25 per cent up on January 2020 \u2013 two months before Covid lockdown hit in March that year \u2013 as customers beat a path to the doors of their 47 shops across North Wales and the North West on the first Saturday of the New Year.<\/p>\n
The fast-growing company has stores in Wrexham, Mold, Rhyl and Colwyn Bay.<\/p>\n
Favourite destinations include mainland Spain, Greece and Portugal, the Canaries, Balearics, Florida and Cruise, while Sicily \u2013 where Britain\u2019s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden and comedian Alan Carr are renovating a property for ITV\u2019s The Italian Job \u2013 is also attracting plenty of interest.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Turkey is popular with the lira in freefall against the pound and Russian holidaymakers staying at home.<\/p>\n
Don, who opened his first travel shop in Mold, in Flintshire, 22 years ago, said: \u201cThe first Saturday of the year is traditionally a big day for us and for the travel business across the country but this has been phenomenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cJanuary is one month when there are no holidays for staff and we even suspend our training programme for the month make sure we are fully staffed for our customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also seeing many former customers return to us \u2013 people who may have been booking on the internet are seeing the benefits in terms of safety and security of booking with a travel agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also the protection and expertise a travel agent can bring in terms of knowing about restrictions on travel, passports and visa regulations and, in these days, vaccination requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re part of the biggest independent travel agency in the UK and we\u2019re not going anywhere. We\u2019re very competitively priced for everything down to holiday insurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has never been a better time to book with low deposits and easy payment plans to spread the cost of the holiday from now up to eight weeks before you go while the big tour operators like Jet 2 Holidays, Easyjet Holidays and Tui are offering big discounts including free child places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don added: \u201cProgrammes like The Italian Job do have an effect because you\u2019re sat at home and it\u2019s dark and wet and cold and fighting for the remote control and there\u2019s Sicily, all sunshine, sandy beaches and blue seas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is only the second year since we\u2019ve been let loose again after the pandemic and people understandably want to stretch their wings again and fly off to somewhere sunny and welcoming.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a big marketing campaign, we\u2019ve been on the TV and the radio and we\u2019ve written to all our previous customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventy ;per cent of the holidays we sell are for this summer, some people are already booking for summer 2024 and the rest are early season sunshine holidays, mainly for couples and to places like the Canaries, Dubai and Florida<\/p>\n
Hays Travel North West, which employs 250 staff and recently added new stores in Blackpool and Preston and Don said: \u201cWe are ATOL-protected and ours is a well-recognised, solid and respected brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough Hays Travel we are able to offer a brilliant choice and we are not aligned to any particular tour operator so we can sell a wide range of holidays which fit the customer\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is absolutely no pressure on our staff to sell a particular type of holiday so our customers come in and receive impartial advice without a particular emphasis on one tour operator. I think this is one of the main reasons people choose our branches to book their holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n