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Travel Counsellors reports summer bookings surge

A surge in main summer bookings, lates and early sales for next year has been reported by Travel Counsellors.

The homeworking agency saw sales for the June-August period rise by 15% year-on-year, with bookings in the June-August period for travel before the end of September up by 22%.

Forward bookings for the following year are 20% ahead of this time in 2014.

Agents’ average earnings have risen by 15% this year compared to the same period in 2014.

Spain, Italy and Greece were the top three European destinations this summer with the weak euro increasing the appeal.

The figures follow a strong financial year-end report, with top line transaction value increasing by 8.1% to £416 million and statutory turnover rising from £115 million to £136 million for the year ending October 2014.

Travel Counsellors managing director, Steve Byrne, said: “We have seen a strong booking trend over the summer months and a significant increase in late summer sales.

“Additionally, our future bookings are also performing well, which has also been buoyed by our recent brand awareness campaign, and we expect to see the benefits of this continue.”

He added: “We have also seen a dramatic increase in those choosing to run their own travel businesses as part of the company with a 30% rise in new Travel Counsellors so far this year compared to last.

“This contrasts with the recent industry reports of a summer recruitment slowdown in the monthly C&M Recruitment salary index, plus a fall in the average salary on offer.

“We are passionate about offering travel professionals an extremely promising future running their own businesses as part of a truly customer focused company, and these recent figures reflect this.”

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