More and more Belgians booking their summer holidays before New Year
According to figures from the tour operators Tui, more and more Belgians are booking there summer holidays before the Christmas and New Year break. Five years ago 15% of those booking a summer break in the sun did so before the end of the preceding year. This has now risen to 25%. Dirk Dom of Thomas Cook says that the same trend has been noted among his company’s customers.
Tui says that customers in Belgium are following a trend that was set previously by customers in other European countries, where early booking is popular. For example in the UK 40% of those taking a summer package holiday book it in the year prior to their vacation.
One of the reasons for this trend catching on in Belgium is that more and more of us know well in advance where we want to go on holiday and what kind of accomodation we want while we are there.
Furthermore, tour operators are encouraging their customers to book early by offering customers a host of incentives such as free transport to and from the airport, price reductions on flights and allowing children to travel free of charge etc.
Thomas Cook has also seen a big increase in those booking early in recent years. "This is why we make a conscious effort to get our new summer brochure out at the end of the previous summer holidays”, Thomas Cook’s Dirk Dom told VRT News.
Dirk Dom also believes that choice plays a role in persuading people to book early as those that book early enjoy greater choice of dates, destinations and hotels than those that wait longer.