It’s that time of year again!!

As every travel agent will tell you, January is our busiest month. With every man and his dog trying their hardest to find that carrot to dangle in order to get them through the bleak UK weather.

After over  a decade working in the travel industry I have always wondered, why do so many people book in January? If like me then I would assume after Christmas and New Year with 2 lovely, albeit spoilt during this time of year, daughters, I haven’t got enough to pay a deposit on my shopping at Aldi, let alone my next holiday.

Having said that, the amount of deals on offer and this year has seen the likes of Royal Caribbean and Princess offering reduced deposits to keep the flow of bookings coming through the door. I would be very interested to find out if this has worked, because so far I have only booked “regular travellers” of these companies, so I am wondering how much new business these deposit offers have attracted and whether or not it will actually turn around and bite them on the bum with cancellations closer to the departure date?

So what makes January so special and busy in the travel industry? I think it’s the whole emotional attachment we all have with having something to look forward to. So with most people their calender looks like this, Christmas, holiday, Christmas, holiday, Christmas and basically repeat for your adult life. I would be more than happy with this cycle personally, and I’m sure later in life it may become Christmas, holiday, holiday, holiday, holiday, Christmas, well, that’s the dream anyway.

Saturday the 10th January was known as Sunshine Saturday and was billed by the Daily Mail as the busiest day of the year for bookings in the travel industry, and boy it did not disappoint. We at cruise.co.uk had our busiest ever day in January since the companies birth 30 years ago!! So needless to say I am currently running on tea and adrenaline, which will hopefully see me through to the end of the month.

Are you a January booker? What is it that makes you want to get booked at this time of year? I would love to hear your thoughts.