- Europe-wide phenomenon – the busiest day of the year for holiday bookings in Germany and the UK took place on 12 January
- Turkey set to see a strong comeback
As the winter continues with sub-zero temperatures, many Europeans are looking ahead to a summer, sun and beach getaway. This applies in particular to the days dubbed Sunshine Saturdays.
This phenomenon has been observed across Europe during the first weekends of the year for a number of years: In many countries, Saturdays in January are the busiest days of the year for holiday bookings. The most popular booking day of the year in the UK and Germany was 12 January. Tens of thousands of bookings were made in Germany, involving more than one million German holiday-seekers visiting one of the retail stores or the website of the world’s largest tourism group to search for summer getaways.
In general, many holidaymakers decide to book early in order to be able to avoid having to make any concessions regarding their favourite destination and holiday period. In 2018, around 50 per cent of TUI’s German guests booked their trip at least five months in advance. According to an analysis of recent bookings made with TUI, January is the peak booking month in all European markets.