by The British love the Med. For the past 75 years we have gone to the Costa del Sol, the French Riviera and the Greek islands to bathe in their azure waters and soak up the summer sun.
But last summer, things changed. One of the worst heat waves was seen in southern Europe: Cerberus. The mercury hit 45C in some parts. The Acropolis in Athens was closed to tourists. Wildfires raged across Sicily and Rhodes, where sun seekers were forced to evacuate. By the end of July 2023, the Mediterranean seemed like the last place on earth you’d want to be.
Fast forward to January 2024, and vacation firms are reporting their strongest booking numbers since the pandemic. Advantage Travel Partnership, which represents scores of UK travel agents, said January 13 was its busiest day for bookings – ever. So do the British holidaying masses stay true to the Med, or have our heads turned?
To find out, we spoke to 40 of the UK’s biggest holiday companies. Some presented hard booking data, others gave rise and fall, while some could only reveal search statistics due to market sensitivity. In short, the below is by no means exhaustive, but it provides a forecast of where people are booking, and looking, for the upcoming holiday season. An exit poll from the January sales, if you will.
Spain stays warm
“I would sooner be a foreigner in Spain than in most countries,” wrote George Orwell in 1938. It seems we all still agree, and Spain will retain its crown as our top holiday destination. you prefer.
The Canary Islands, the Balearics and mainland Spain were the most cited destinations in our survey, despite some holiday favorites such as Lanzarote showing top tourist aspirations just last year. Majorca and Tenerife are the top two destinations according to Tui, with EasyJet Holidays listing Lanzarote, Tenerife, Alicante, Malaga and Valencia among its top choices. Of the top ten destinations presented by the holiday aggregator, Travel Supermarket, eight are on the Spanish mainland or on a Spanish island.
Despite a rocky peak season in 2023, the rest of the Med remains popular. Greece – despite last summer’s wildfires – and Turkey are among the best European countries. Portugal also received several mentions (in particular, than Italy and France together), with the Advantage Travel Partnership revealing that bookings to the country are up 54 percent compared to the same week last year.
Interested in Iceland (and the Middle East)?
While demand for the Med continues to grow, some destinations are certain to experience a relative slowdown in 2023. Iceland, for example, has dropped out of Original Travel’s top ten destinations for January bookings – possibly due to the ongoing volcanic eruption. that has made headlines. Some agents report high bookings for Norway, which could be cashing in on bits from Iceland: “Adventures about the Northern Lights in particular seem to be having a moment,” reported Far Better Adventures, citing the Norway as a top destination for 2024.
Adventure travel tour operator Explore said: “Unsurprisingly the Middle East is suffering – last year’s best-selling tour, Discover Jordan, has dropped out of the top five for January.” UAE and Egypt appear resilient: Holiday Extras reports a 65 percent and 87 percent year-on-year increase in bookings for these destinations, which were cited most frequently in our survey.
In it for the long haul
A consistent message from the tour co-ops and travel agents surveyed is that it is far from popular – suggesting that climate concerns have not yet affected the travel plans of most Britons. Thomas Cook reports that only four per cent of bookings were at long-haul destinations this time last year. This year, long-ago holidays account for more than 11 percent of their intake in the January window.
“Families may be willing to fly over the Mediterranean for cooler temperatures in the summer – for example, Mauritius is typically 25–30C in the summer months,” said Emma King, head of product for Thomas Cook.
Across our January sales exit poll, the Caribbean islands (particularly Barbados) were popular, as were the Maldives, India, the US, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Japan, in particular, looks set to be a leading destination for 2024: the Ultimate Travel Company reports a 167 per cent increase, and Newmarket Holidays says its Discover Japan itinerary is a big seller. This is probably due to the fact that Japan was only open to tourists for a few months in January 2023.
It is noteworthy that a handful of operators note a slight decrease in bookings in France. In Visit Britain’s annual trends report, it predicted: “The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris during July and August could displace some traffic if hotel rooms and access to key tourist sites are challenging.”
The verdict
All this is good news for the travel industry, and good news for holiday makers too. It ended last year, but fell slightly short of the record tourism figures of 2019. From exit polls, it looks like those pre-pandemic peaks will be surpassed in 2024. Millions of extra seats have been added Tui, easyJet Holidays and Jet2holidays for this summer: these seem to be filling up, but if they are going to sell out, especially in the ongoing cost of living crisis, these businesses will have to get the price right. Don’t be surprised if some last-minute nineties-style savings pop up as the summer window approaches.
Where to book? If you’re looking for a short break in the sun without bumping into too many other British tourists, we noticed a distinct lack of hype around Croatia, Cyprus, Montenegro and Malta – all offering similar climates to their Spanish counterparts, in Greece and Turkey. , but not quite the same amounts planning to spawn this summer.
