Blue Monday marks best ever Monday for Travel Counsellors as it records more than £50 million in sales this January

Travel Counsellors experienced ‘a not so blue’ Monday this week as the UK’s leading independent travel company had its busiest Monday on record, booking £4.7 million in sales in one day, taking sales to £50m already booked this January. As if the week could not get any better, Wednesday 18 January then marked the biggest sales day ever in TC history, as the company recorded £5.53m in sales in one day. Adding to a bumper week, the company also saw its biggest week ever, in terms of volume and value of bookings.
Brits were certainly looking to get away from it all on Monday 16 January – coined as the most depressing day of the year – by booking their holidays for 2023 and beyond. Customer sentiment is high with 89 per cent of respondents to a recent pulse survey still looking to travel, despite any impact on cost of living, according to the company. This comes as Travel Counsellors launches its ‘Let yourself go’ campaign during January, with a 92% increase in sales this month compared to January 22 levels.
Jim Eastwood, Global Sales Director at Travel Counsellors, comments: “This is a record-breaking January so far, with Blue Monday spurring customers on to book their holidays for the year, in addition to our sizeable corporate travel sales. This month, we have already celebrated six of the top 10 sales days ever recorded, and we are only half-way through January!
“These outstanding results show that despite the current environment customers are still placing great value on travel experiences, whilst wanting to book with someone they can trust and will be there for them every step of the way. These record-breaking figures are testament to the incredible care and commitment of our Travel Counsellors and colleagues, who are working around the clock to get those bookings over the line and provide a truly personal service to their customers.”
Spain (24 percent) and the USA (13 percent) are proving popular destinations of choice, followed by Greece, the UAE (also as a gateway to the Indian Ocean), Italy, Finland/Lapland and Thailand. From a luxury leisure perspective, numerous bookings were made at over £50,000 showing the appetite to cross-off those bucket list trips with longer stays where experience is everything, in addition to the increase of multi-generational family groups travelling together. Trips include an amazing gorilla experience in Rwanda costing over £250,000 and a once in a lifetime Nile cruise of almost £90,000.
By volume, trips abroad during February and March are increasingly popular as customers look to get away over winter for a short break. However, customers are also back to forward planning their summer holidays with July and August remaining the biggest departure months.
Sales for Financial Year 2023 (from 1st Nov 2022 to present) have risen by 80 per cent on previous year figures and up 40 per cent on pre-pandemic levels. Last year Travel Counsellors recorded a record-breaking year taking in £800m in sales and welcomed over 150 new franchisees globally. This year the company will be investing £10m into its bespoke technology, attracting more talented professionals to build their own businesses using the company’s personal, digital platform.

www.travelcounsellors.com