Travel Counsellors Ireland has announced that the USA was the company’s most popular destination for bookings in January, despite the recent political turmoil and the dollar closing in on parity with the euro. A high volume of bookings made were for the USA, with stays in Orlando the most popular, while New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas also topped the bookings list.
The top sales day for Travel Counsellors Ireland was Friday 20th January and, overall, sales for January were in excess of €4.2 million, up 10%, compared to the same period last year. Globally, Travel Counsellors saw the value of its holiday bookings in January topping €63 million for the first time ever.
Just under 70% of Irish sales were made through the company’s in-house booking system Phenix, which gives Travel Counsellors the ability to package tailor-made itineraries, while being in control of the margin they make. The company believes this contributed significantly to 30% of its Travel Counsellors celebrating their best ever month for earnings.
Cathy Burke, General Manager, Travel Counsellors Ireland, said: “We witnessed a real boom in bookings, and it is a promising sign that people are looking optimistically towards 2017. It is interesting to see that, despite the negativity emanating from the USA, it is still topping our destination list for Irish holidaymakers.”
Bookings for Mexico are back in demand, with Cancún at number five on the Travel Counsellors top 10 list. “Mexico’s tourism was affected because of fears surrounding the Zika virus in Central and South America. It is fantastic to now see Irish families, couples and honeymooners booking holidays to that country once again,” said Cathy.
Traditionally, January is the big booking time for family holidays, and top European spots for those with children were the Algarve in Portugal and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Cathy highlighted that their popularity is, in part, due to the large number of flights departing to these destinations from Irish airports. The top 10 list also included Lake Garda in Italy.
“While we are witnessing a definite appetite in Europe for family holidays, the increased demand has sent prices soaring,” added Cathy.
Long-haul holidays are also on the rise, with an increase in bookings for destinations such as South Africa, Thailand and Indonesia especially increasing in popularity.
Top Ten Destinations
- Orlando
- Faro
- New York
- Las Vegas
- Cancun
- Lanzarote
- South Africa
- San Francisco
- Sydney
- Lake Garda
