Some 53% of new bookings made between 13 June and 20 June following a price comparison on the site were for 2022, a new study by TravelSupermarket has revealed.

This compares to just 12% for 2020 based on comparisons in the same week (13-20 June) in 2019, prior to the Covid crisis.

Only 21% of this year’s bookings were made for June, July and August combined, with 13% of total bookings arising from a TravelSupermarket price comparison search were for December 2021 alone.

The data shows that in the past week, Spain, Greece and the US are the three most popular countries for a future departure date. 

TravelSupermarket analyst Emma Coulthurst said the UK’s travel restrictions and the "lack of clarity" around overseas holidays had led to people looking further ahead rather than booking for this summer. 

"They want to have a blowout when they go away, with entertainment centres, New York and Las Vegas, topping the list for bookings. People are wanting to treat themselves, when they can," she said.

"You’d normally see the majority of searches at this time of year for now until the end of October. But, at the moment, only a quarter of bookings are for this period."

She further urged the government to "look at the science" on where it is safe to travel to, rather than "what they think the public want to hear".

"There are countries with lower coronavirus rates than the UK and strong vaccination programmes, which present little risk to British holidaymakers and which they should be allowed to travel to."