As more destinations join the newly-created ‘low-risk’ list on Wednesday following today’s announcement, Travel Counsellors has released its latest booking figures, which crown Spain and Greece as the most popular destinations for both winter 2021/22 and summer 22 holidays.
Recording its third highest trading week since March 2021 on w/c 6 September, the leading independent travel company continues to receive an influx in global new bookings.
Last week, Travel Counsellors experienced a 24% upsurge of new bookings for winter 21/22 - with the top destinations being Spain, the UK and the USA – as well as a 20% increase in new bookings for summer 2022 – led by Greece, Spain and the USA. Spain (20%) and Greece (13%) are also firm favourites for a late summer break this month and in October.
These positive booking figures show that customer confidence is increasing week by week. This fact, together with the simplified travel system announced today, has made Travel Counsellors optimistic about overseas travel.
Kirsten Hughes, UK Managing Director at Travel Counsellors, commented: “Our priority is to ensure that customers continue to travel safely. However, like the rest of the industry, we have been calling for clarity on the traffic light system and testing requirements, which have been very confusing. Today’s announcement a step forward in making travel a bit easier and more accessible. Whilst still not offering us the freedom we had before the pandemic, the new two-tier travel system will make it a lot clearer to the travelling public which countries they can book a holiday to.
“The cost of testing has been high and the process quite complex at times and this has also acted as a deterrent to many people who wished to travel. We are already seeing that customer confidence is going up and we are truly enjoying seeing so many more customers going abroad and enjoying their well-deserved break. Today’s decision of easing testing requirements from ‘low-risk’ countries on return will definitely be a major boost for the whole travel industry,” Kirsten concludes.
Travel Counsellors has almost 1,500 experts across the UK who offer support, local expertise and reassurance from ‘inspiration to destination’. Throughout the pandemic, Travel Counsellors have maintained a 5-star Trustpilot rating and have three-times been voted ‘number one’ in MoneySavingExpert’s consumer poll, which ranks how well travel companies are looking after their customers during Covid-19.
