The package holiday specialist is predicting a fourfold increase on normal booking volumes, a significant increase on peak periods last year.

In response, the company has increased capacity in its call centre and online and social media teams.

Although bookings show that Majorca, Spain and the Canary Islands are the favourites, Jet2holidays is also reporting a huge spike in bookings to city-break destinations such as Prague, Budapest and Barcelona.

Zoe Towers, head of product at Jet2holidays, said: “This time of year has always been a popular time for bookings, but this year we’re expecting a surge of bookings over the weekend and into Monday.

“We’ve prepared for this demand by increasing the number of customer support staff, both in our call centres as well as in our online and social teams to help with enquiries.

“This year seems to be one of exploration, with people choosing to book new destinations as well as well-known hotspots, and we’re seeing this with ‘off the beaten path’ destinations such as Halkidiki, Costa de Almeria and Croatia proving very popular.

“With this appetite to get out, do things and see the world it means that the phrase ‘Blue Monday’ feels a bit wide of the mark this year, and this research certainly shows that.”