Travel with Katie Butler: Iceland’s Blue Lagoon has reopened

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: Spring is just around the corner and our late bookings remain extremely strong as many of our customers are looking to get away as soon as the summer season starts in May and June, I can't say I blame you.

Booking patterns have certainly changed since the pandemic and ordinarily our late booking season would start in April for those looking to get away in the following months. Since the pandemic we have definitely found that late bookings have remained consistent each month.

We have a lot more holidaymakers choosing to travel in the winter months, after all, with the cost of fuel bills, why not jet off to warmer climes and grab some winter sunshine if you can.

February is a popular time to travel to Iceland and we had several families take the opportunity to travel in the February half-term holiday. We have of course been keeping a very close eye on the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) advice and all our customers were thankfully able to continue with their holiday plans following recent volcanic eruptions.

The Blue Lagoon, one of the most popular attractions, also reopened just in time for our customers who were booked in for February 16, the day it actually re-opened.

They would of course have received a full refund if they were unable to go.

Our customers also were lucky enough to see the Aurora Borealis, more commonly known as the Northern Lights.

We love to learn and last week both our teams from Heckmondwike and Ossett attended a training event in Leeds hosted at Revolución de Cuba. Along with approximately 70 independent travel agents we enjoyed a fun but informative evening with independent tour operators Balkan Holidays, G Adventures, Riviera Travel, Do Something Different and also the trade team from Leeds Bradford Airport.

As an independent travel agent it is vital we take advantage of these training events, as of course, we are responsible for our own learning and development. We get to learn about products and destinations and what is new, all of which we are able to pass on to our much-valued customers.

Did you know, Balkan Holidays have been operating for 58 years and now travel to Northern Cyprus and Malta, or that you can take a yacht holiday with Riviera Travel around Croatia from just £1,649 per person including flights? Amazing!

New destinations from Leeds Bradford Airport will be coming soon so watch this space.

No change last week on top dates to depart – with May and June departures accounting for a total of 23 per cent of our new bookings.

A huge increase in long haul bookings last week with further afield destinations taking 29 per cent of our share – Thailand and Mexico being our best sellers.

A slight shift in our top selling mainstream destinations however, with Tenerife and this week Alicante taking top spot. I am certain we will see Turkey start to creep up there soon.