Agents are gearing up for a busy few weeks, with nine out of 10 expecting this Peaks sales period to be busier or on a par with the last one.
A Travel Gossip Facebook poll reveals 63% expect sales to outperform last year’s Peaks; 27% expect Peaks to be as successful as 2024, with only 8% expecting sales to be ‘below par’.
Not Just Travel agent Leyla Kent said: “I am planning and pushing for a good one,” while agent Sarah Pratt said that, despite the ‘chaos, stress, long hours and mayhem’, she is expecting ‘bookings galore’.
Janine Marshall of homeworking franchise JLT, which launched during the pandemic and has grown to 340 agents, with collective sales this year of £7m, said: “I would expect that January will be one of our best months so far. We certainly expect it to be very busy.”
Jake Cullum-Hollins, CEO at The Good Travel Agent, said: “I’m feeling hopeful that this year’s Peaks will be a strong one. We’ve spent a lot of time and resources this year arming our agents with the tools they need to be successful and we cannot wait to see the results of their hard work.”
And Advantage Commercial Director John Sullivan said: “We’ve had two record years of Peaks. What would make us all happy was if 2025 Peaks was even better still. We have had a couple of phenomenal years already.”
Operators say they are ready to support agents over the next few weeks. Dnata Travel Group said: “As agents buckle up ready for increased January enquiries, the trade partnerships managers will be continuing their visits to stores, delivering tailored care packages to help ease the workload and offer support where it is required.”
Gold Medal Managing Director Simon Applebaum added: “Everything our brands have introduced across the last 12 months means we are set up better than ever before to support our agents through what we hope will be a bumper peaks 2025 and – ultimately – to help our agents secure bookings. We have strengthened existing relationships with both our agent partners and supplier partners, as well as introducing new ones.”
And at the 2024 CLIA Forum in Windsor on Wednesday (18 December) cruise bosses said turn-of-year Wave activity remains a key focus.
AE Expeditions Director of Sales Andrew Turner said he expects January to March to account for around about 60% of sales.
P&O Cruises Vice President Sales, Marketing and Brand Robert Scott said: “We have an 11% increase in investment year on year for this period and we are really supporting agents at this time of year.”
Celebrity Cruises Marketing Director EMEA Commercial Jody Wallace added: “Wave is as important as it ever has been for us at Celebrity.”
