European Tour Operators Still Worry a Lot About January Bookings — Here’s Why
Photo Credit: A man walks past a snow-covered phone box in Marlow, England. Wintry weather prompts people to start thinking about sunnier climes. The Press Association via Associated Press / Steve Parsons
Skift Take
Common wisdom among tour operators has always been that to have a good year, you needed to have a good January, and it is still no different. While the reasons for booking holidays early might hark back to the pre-Internet era, the consumer pattern hasn't changed very much.
Over the last couple of years, travel marketers have arbitrarily designated a Saturday in January, usually the first, as “Sunshine Saturday.”
Of course it's totally phony, and is used simply to sell more holidays, but it does contain a kernel of truth: In the UK, Germany and much of northern Europe, travelers still book a huge number of trips at the start of the year.
While it may appear to be something of a throwback to the pre-Internet days when booking well in advance of departure was the standard and last-minute deals were harder to access, it is still a fundamental part of the industry. A TUI Group slide below from February 2017 shows just how crucial these early sales are.
This year, TUI Group said that on January 6, 30,000 UK customers booked a holiday, and the company claimed a record number of visits to its stores and website.
Interestingly, there are slight differences across Europe over the most popular booking days. In Germany, TUI is expecting 20,000
