As January ends, Barrhead Travel, one of the UK’s largest retail travel agencies, says it has its best-ever start to the year with a record-breaking January for holiday bookings, with bookings up 25 percent from the previous record.

The travel group has reported a record booking month as holidaymakers flocked to travel agents to take advantage of early booking deals.

Despite cost-of-living challenges, consumers are prioritising holiday spend and leaning on travel agents to help with budgeting. Barrhead Travel’s retail network also reported that five percent of customers in January booked two or more holidays at a time as people looked to secure the best deals and manage monthly payments.

Barrhead Travel’s top 10 destinations this January include Tenerife, Mallorca, Barbados and Vancouver Jacqueline Dobson (pictured above), President of Barrhead Travel, said: “As January draws to a close, we’re pleased to confirm a record-breaking month of holiday bookings – up 25 percent from January 2020 when we last reported a record sales month prior to the pandemic.

Demand for travel is higher than ever and we expect momentum will remain strong during February. There is a real confidence in the market: customers are decisive and determined to lock in their getaways as soon as possible and many are even booking multiple holidays at once.

It’s fantastic to see people embracing the services of their local travel agents – more than half of our new bookings so far this month are from new-to-brand.”

She added: “Getting value-for-money is top priority which is why we’re seeing the all- inclusive board basis proving to be the most popular holiday type. Cruise bookings are up by over two hundred percent with Southampton departures offering very attractive options for families.”