Fred. Holidays is predicting this year’s peaks to be its most successful ever, after starting the month with a record week of trading.
Sales for the first week of January were up 144% compared with the same week in 2024. The company also experienced its highest ever number of calls, which were answered within 90 seconds on average.
Fred. Holidays said its best trading days in the run up to Sunshine Saturday were 9, 10 and 11 January, with 40% of bookings for rail and tailor-made holidays.
It was the best week ever for cruise, which accounted for over 60% of sales with 55% of these sales for cruise-and-stay packages, 35% for river cruise and 10% for expedition.
The 10 top performing countries for sales were the US, Canada, Italy, Spain, France, India, Germany, Norway, Portugal and Iceland.
Early indications for last week show sales were up daily on the previous week, with many initial agent enquiries now starting to convert.
Fred. Holidays is already seeing 50% growth in agents booking with them this year which comes on the back of a year when they saw a 100% increase in trade sales.
It said agents have been inspired by Fred. Holidays ‘Re:imagine’ campaign, which features a range of products based around the company’s top eight travel trends for 2025 including immersive travel experiences combining luxury travel with ocean or river cruises, and its new agent Re:ward incentive.
Director of Tour Operations Tricia Birmingham said: “I’m delighted with how positively we have started the Peaks season, with all areas of the business smashing their targets.
“I’m particularly pleased with how well cruise has performed, with agents starting to realise that we work with over 40 cruise partners and have a team of experts on hand who can provide a tailor-made service combining cruise with flights, rail, tours and land stays.
“As we head towards our most successful Peaks ever, I would like to thank our agent partners for their support and everyone at Fred. Holidays for all their hard work.”
