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Sun-seeking Britons are flocking to book winter holidays in the coming cheaper destinations as travel increasingly pays for itself in installments, bolstering travel agencies and airlines at a traditionally quieter time of year.
Leading carriers and travel companies have reported a surge in bookings, with demand for travel to North Africa and the United Arab Emirates increasing and appetite for Mediterranean countries continuing.
But as the cost of living continues to rise, more Britons are spreading the cost of their holiday over a longer period and booking months or months in advance at the last minute find the best deals, according to travel executives.
Garry Wilson, chief executive of easyJet Holidays, said the low-cost airline’s travel division expected bookings in the year to September 2025 to rise by around 25 per cent on the previous 12 months, with Egypt and Tunisia driving growth in the winter.
While Malta, Cyprus and Majorca remained popular, “there are a lot of buyers who want to try new destinations (and) at great value”, he said, adding that paying in monthly installments was “increasingly popular”.
Online travel agency On the Beach said this week that bookings for the winter season, which runs from November to April, are at a record high and are up 25 percent year-on-year.
Bookings to Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt are up 50 percent compared to winter 2023, and demand for the Mediterranean remains strong despite a wave of anti-tourism protests this year.
Chief executive Shaun Morton said that while resorts in Greece and Turkey were stretching out the start and end of the season, Britons were being drawn to “some very good all-inclusives in North Africa” ​​with guaranteed sunshine.
The use of monthly installments has “never been more popular”, he added, with a current utilization rate of 80 percent and winter bookings representing 15 percent of the travel agency’s total business.
The race for affordable winter sun comes amid steady post-pandemic holiday demand. Spending on consumer travel cards rose 6 per cent year-on-year in November, Barclays said this week, as “winter conditions encouraged Britons to book trips”.
The average mean temperature in the UK in November was 6.6C, according to the Met Office, the national weather service. In the same month, the average temperature in Marrakech, Morocco is 22C, while the average maximum daily temperature in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is 24.9C.
Donat Rétif, chief executive of loveholidays, said the warm weather in North Africa was driving business, with bookings at the UK’s biggest online travel agency for Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt up 128 per cent, 36 per cent and 31 per cent respectively compared to 2023.
Another popular destination is the UAE: in October, Virgin Atlantic increased flights from the UK to Dubai from three times a week to once a day, with loveholidays and On the Beach reporting increased demand.
Chinese online travel agent Trip.com said Christmas bookings by British travelers to the UAE, whose capital is Abu Dhabi, were up 170 percent compared to last year.
Andy Washington, managing director for Europe, said the UAE was boosted by being one of the first countries to open its borders post-Covid and that cooler temperatures in winter compared to summer are driving bookings.
Some 2,105 flights were scheduled to take off between Dubai and the UK between October and December, equating to more than 964,000 seats, the most ever offered in that quarter of the year, according to aviation data analyst Cirium.
Issam Kazim, chief executive of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said Britons, who are the second largest market after travelers from India, were drawn to the country’s “safety, security and infrastructure”.
