Online bookings still account for most holiday purchases: rather than competing virtual transactions, the uplift in retail reflects the travel industry’s wider buoyancy. The sector has enjoyed double-digit growth for 11 of the past 12 months, the latest Barclays spending report revealed on Tuesday; in November alone, travel agent trade grew by 9.2 per cent, and airlines 14 per cent.
And even the smallest retail travel agents are on the rise: “We’re a tiny shop but we’re doing really well,” says Clare Dudley Adams, managing director of Ponders Travel, in the village of Over in Cambridgeshire. “We have just gone