Holiday companies are reporting a rise in bookings for trips abroad in 2022 according to new research.
In the past week alone, Thomas Cook’s 2021 bookings have been overtaken by bookings for 2022.
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said: “This summer still is not certain. What we’re selling for 2022 is higher-price, longer-stay holidays for large groups.”
Tour operators reportedly saw an immediate rise in interest when Boris Johnson revealed his roadmap for England on 21 February.
Last week TUI announced a cut in capacity for summer 2021 but said bookings for May 2022 were up 150% on May this year.
Smaller operators are also seeing similar patterns. Sunvil, which specialises in holidays to Greece and Cyprus, reported that customers are choosing to defer their 2021 holidays to 2022.
Sunvil Chairman Noel Josephides said: “We’ve had nothing for 2021 in the last 10 days, but on Monday we took £40,000 worth of bookings for 2022.”
A spokesman for EasyJet said: “We remain of the view that international travel can restart and that, with the right framework in place, restrictions can be safely and progressively reduced and in some cases removed by mid-summer for key destinations.”
The government’s global Travel Taskforce is expected to unveil some of its recommendations on 5 April.
