Wettest June on record boosts holiday bookings

Operators are reporting a year-on-year increase in sales in the past few weeks, which they are putting down to the wettest June on record.

On the Beach claimed its bookings for European destinations were up 20% YOY in the past fortnight.

Thomson said it had seen a similar rise in online searches last month and an independent study for Thomas Cook earlier this year found that bad weather makes one in five Brits at least think about booking a holiday.

According to the Met office, the period from April to June was the wettest since records began in 1910, said ABTA.

It was also the second dullest June on record with just 119.2 hours of sunshine, narrowly missing out on the record of 115.4 hours set in 1987. And it was the coolest June since 1991.

Head of online marketing at Thomson Nathan Timmins said: "Over the last month the Balearics, Spain, Greece, Tunisia and Morocco have proved popular as Brits look to escape to sandy beaches, beautiful weather and resorts that they know and love.

"With rain forecast for the rest of the week we imagine that the website will keep attracting more users, as people look to research and book their holidays or just get some inspiration and take their mind off the rain!"

On the Beach marketing director Alistair Daly said : "The bad weather has clearly had a positive effect on Brits booking foreign holidays and we have seen a 20% rise in sales of holidays to destinations across Europe over the past couple of weeks."

Thomas Cook said it had fewer holidays available than this time last year and although the operator has cut capacity it said this was also partly due to the poor weather.

By Linsey McNeill