Wash-out April sparks holiday sales
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Travel Republic has seen sales soar more than 40% in April this year as customers look to get away from the wet weather.
The OTA saw its year-on-year figures boost even further during the final days, when sales were up 132%. Popular destinations included Cyprus, Greece, Egypt and Turkey.
“We usually see a surge in bookings when the weather changes for the worse, but this prolonged spell of rain has meant that we’ve seen a record month in April,” sad Kane Pirie, chief executive at Travel Republic. “People are still worried about the economy and job security however it seems that four weeks of virtually non-stop rain has pushed thousands of people to their limit – very little stands between the Brits and their annual sunshine break”.
Fred. Olsen also posted a record sales week for the final week of April, with takings at more than £1.5 million on Tuesday 24 April. The boost has been attributed to the cruise line’s new summer brochure and the release of its two Grand Voyages for 2014.
“In the first half of April, our sales were down by 5%, but we are delighted with the recent uplift in the second half, which has seen an improvement in sales of 58%, bringing a total increase for the month of nearly 24%,” explained Nathan Philpot, sales and marketing director for Fred. Olsen. “Growth has come predominantly from a number of smaller agents, with sales through these outlets rising from 0.5% of total guests booked in the first half of April, to 1.3% in the second half”.
Following its contract pull from Thomas Cook, the cruise line has signed up 60 new travel agent partners during April.
