Greece bailout brings late spike in summer bookings
Agents are reporting a rise in late bookings to Greece as the UK school holidays begin.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said many of its members are reporting an increase in late bookings to Greece following the recent progress in securing a bailout.
He said customers are taking advantage of some ‘exceptional deals’.
According to the latest Leisure Travel Monitor from analyst GFK Ascent, bookings to Greece have been up throughout the negotiations with the Eurozone.
Its figures, based on booking data from agents and operators, said bookings taken for summer 2015 up until the end of June were up 3% and bookings taken in the month of June for summer 2015 are also up 3%.
ABTA forecasts that around 1.2 million British holidaymakers will head overseas this weekend for their summer holidays.
It said Spain remains the number one destination for the UK holiday market, with the Canary and Balearic Islands continuing to be popular.
Other Eurozone destinations, including Cyprus and France, are also proving particularly popular, with the pound currently at an eight year high against the Euro.
"For those flying long haul, Florida and Dubai are very popular this year, with families benefitting from the cut in child air taxes that was introduced in May," said Tanzer.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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