Australian travel advisors are seeing a late surge in demand for European travel, with September departures now shaping up to be stronger than expected.
Multiple advisors told Travel Weekly that they had seen a recent surge in bookings from travellers who had initially been hesitant about travelling to Europe this year.
One advisor said they have been overwhelmed with all the bookings coming in for last-minute travel.
“I’m seeing a lot of bookings for travel in the next few weeks,” they said.
Andrew Sullivan from The Don’t Forget Travel Group said he had initially thought bookings for the European summer were largely over, but was now seeing a wave of requests for September travel.
“I think there was quite a number of people who were holding back because there’s been another wave of getting to Europe for September,” he said.
Sullivan said customers were often surprised when he told them how busy Europe was at the moment.
“They don’t think anyone’s travelling,” he said.
“I wasn’t expecting it. So it looks like September departures are going to be above average,” he added.
“September’s been a big month this year,” he said, adding that a lot of his clients had grown up children and are no longer constrained by school holidays.
The heatwave across parts of Europe is also prompting some clients to consider travelling later in the year, Sullivan said.
Meanwhile, APT CEO David Cox recently told Travel Weekly the company was also seeing bookings pick up for December, particularly for Christmas market itineraries.
“[Bookings] have really picked up again, so it’s been a little bit patchy. But what we’re seeing is certainly the Christmas market stuff is selling well,” he said.
