Rating: Brit holiday operators expect bumper online bookings
According to UK holiday specialist, Thomson here, today [Sunday January 2013] is expected to be the busiest day of the year for booking a holiday online. Hence it has been named ‘Sunshine Sunday’. Sadly, the company doesn’t split the figure of a predicted two million website searches into mobile and desktop. However, based on search and booking patterns over the last three years, Thomson is forecasting a peak in bookings at 8.45pm.
“With Xmas firmly out of the way many people want a holiday in the sunshine to look forward to,” explained, Jeremy Ellis, marketing director with Thomson.
He added, “Over the last few years we’ve seen a trend towards booking holidays earlier and with record bookings over Xmas we’re expecting the rush to continue with our busiest online day of year [today].”
Previously, however, rival Brit holiday firm, British Airways Holidays, has reckoned that Thomson may have got it all wrong and that Monday will actually see the highest number of bookings.
Hence it Monday January 7th [2013] is being referred to as ‘Bumper Monday’.
The holiday operator saw a 75 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of holidays booked on Xmas Day and a 58 per cent increase on Boxing Day [2012].
“We anticipate a bumper booking day [on] Monday, with the return to work and start of a new school term, signalling the need for families to have sunnier climes to look forward to,” commented British Airways Holidays’ md, Claire Bentley.
GoMobile News could find no dedicated iPhone apps for booking holidays with either Thomson or British Airways Holidays but both had ‘wish-you-were-here’ style apps.
Thomson’s app is Thomson Family Adventures Postcard here and British Airways (the airline) offers British Airways Perfect Days here.
We reckon such apps make an ideal adjunct to high street store search apps like Udozi for iOS here.
