Agency groups have reported their best sales days ever over the last week or so, with one describing stores as ‘buzzing’ and others saying they are excited for the rest of 2025.
Barrhead Travel Group, Personal Travel Consultants in Partnership with Blue Bay Travel and Travel Counsellors have all reported record-breaking sales.
Barrhead said group trading for the week ending 19 January is up 22% on the same period last year. Saturday 18 January was another record-breaking day and the weekend overall outperformed the group’s previous best weekend, in January 2024.
Summer 2025 remains the highest performing season for Barrhead, although late getaways are the second most popular, accounting for almost one in five bookings.
Managing Director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell said: “We’d already had a strong start to January, but it seems that consumer sentiment has changed gears in the last week and has accelerated very quickly. Our branch network has said the atmosphere in stores is buzzing – and we’ve had lots of record performances throughout our regions.
“People have not been hanging around this week – customers are confident in booking and want to get their plans locked in so they can start to enjoy the build-up to their holidays. We’ve also noticed reports from branches of customers coming in to book multiple holidays in one go – with one instance of a customer booking five trips in one day.
“As we head into the last couple of weeks of January, we’re anticipating similar levels of demand – 2025 is set to be another great year for travel.”
Travel Counsellors reported its best sales day of 2025 and the second-highest sales day in its 30-year history on Friday 17 January, generating £6.9m. So far this year, sales have topped £5m on eight days and four of those have topped £6m, putting them in the top 25 all-time best sales days.
The top five most-booked destinations and travel types are the US, Spain, cruise holidays, Greece and Dubai. The Caribbean and Indian Ocean are also selling well.
Dean McMackin, who set up as a Travel Counsellor during the pandemic, said: “January has been an incredible start to the year. I’ve already achieved more than the same time last year, and it just keeps building as I recently experienced my busiest day since starting my business. It’s amazing to see how much demand there is for bespoke, personalised travel experiences. I’m excited for what the rest of the year will bring.”
January sales for The Personal Travel Consultants in Partnership with Blue Bay Travel so far have exceeded £2.5 million, an increase of 60% on the same period in 2024.
The homeworking business also celebrated its biggest week of trading on record, with sales between 5 and 11 January 2025, totalling £1m.
Self-generated sales, from the PTCs’ own client base have doubled year-on-year and account for approximately 64% of the total sales achieved.
The company’s top seller generated over £300,000 single-handedly, with the following four top sellers booking over £100,000 each.
Group Manager Abbie Heaton said: “We’re excited for what 2025 holds.”
Departures for the summer 2025 season account for 50% of the bookings taken so far by PTCs in January but lates have also performed well with departures for the remaining winter 2024/25 season accounting for 25% of the sales and bookings Winter 2025/26 accounts for 20%.
Turkey has proved the most popular destination overall, followed by Spain, Maldives, Mexico, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago and UAE.
