Holiday company Saga has experienced a notable increase in interest for holidays in recent weeks.
This comes as those aged over 50, who will likely receive the Covid-19 vaccine ahead of some younger groups, look ahead to future trips.
Saga said it had noted growth in the number of people booking long-haul and ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trips.
Bookings for 2022 are up over 90 per cent on the same period last year, suggesting an appetite to travel, the company added.
People also seem to want to go away for longer, with bookings up from a previous average of 13 to 18 days – a nearly 40 per cent increase.
There has also been a 16 per cent increase in traffic to the Saga website, with a 98 per cent increase in conversion to sales – suggesting those searching for trips are now more confident to book.
Chris Simmonds, Saga chief executive of holidays, has said that the people over 50 are “hungry to travel”, with once-in-a-lifetime trips next winter to destinations such as Uzbekistan and Uganda proving particularly popular.
He added that Saga’s customers are “very adventurous and thinking about spoiling themselves”.
UK and Ireland trips are also seeing an increase in interest.
Titan Travel
Titan Travel has noted similar trends.
Despite having only just said goodbye to 2020, bookings for next year are beginning to take-off, with the company announcing one of its 2022 tours – Wild Costa Rica – has already sold out, 13 months prior to departure.
Andy Squirrell, managing director, Titan Travel, commented: “Having conducted consumer surveys over summer last year we recognised that travellers are looking ahead to future trips earlier than ever before.
“To help satisfy this increase in demand from early bookers we launched our 2022 worldwide and European product in autumn last year.
“Since the launch we have seen a great uplift in bookings for future holidays, which has led to one of our 2022 tour dates selling out 13 months before departure.
“The vaccine rollout is undoubtedly bringing greater confidence to travellers who are itching to book a holiday and travel once again.”