Leger Shearings Group drafted in extra staff to cover reservations immediately following the outlining of the government’s roadmap.
Chief executive Liam Race said the operator was on track for a record sales day, with reservations up 220% against the same day last year.
“Sales have been incredible; we literally can’t answer the volume of calls we are receiving and we have drafted staff in from other areas of the business to try and attempt to answer them as quickly as possible.
“We have also extended our opening hours to 8pm Monday to Friday and have doubled our phone line capacity for concurrent calls.”
He added that among customers who had contacted because they had bookings prior to 17 May, 87% had decided to rebook rather than cancel.
Matt Herbert, sales and yield director at JG Travel Group, which includes the National Holidays and Omega brands, said website searches had risen 300% on the previous week.
“Bookings for us since the announcement have been for holidays in July and August, with customers favouring popular UK seaside resorts such as The Isle of Wight, Devon, Cornwall, North Wales and Scarborough,” he said.
Hotelshopuk, which operates the Great Little Breaks brand, reported increased interest from agents.
Chris Cundall, director of trade relations, said: “We have seen a huge increase. Yesterday alone we saw more bookings made by agents – it was around 700% up verses the beginning of last week, so the signs are very, very good.
“What is also evident is the amount of agents joining our social pages - we are now up to over 8,700 with more and more adding each day. We can see our offers are being shared and this is where the main agent success is coming from.
“What we are also seeing is agents who have bookings are amending - so if they had booked for April or early May, for example, then they are moving them over to travel after 17 May.”
