Bad weather causing spike in last-minute bookings for holidays in sunny destinations

The bad weather in the Netherlands and surrounding countries has caused a rush on last-minute bookings for trips to sunny destinations, according to the Holiday Monitor of review and booking site Zooever. Bookings to countries like Spain, Turkey, Greece, and Egypt were 2.5 times higher in May and June than in the same period last year. And people are often booking only days before departure.

Last-minute bookings—six weeks or less before departure—have become increasingly popular since the coronavirus pandemic and its travel restrictions. But this year takes the cake, according to Zoover. The number of last-minute bookings is 142 percent higher than last year, and the peak in bookings has yet to come.

Most people are booking trips to Spain (34.22%), Turkey (26.41%), Greece (20.66%), and Egypt (12.76%). Trips to France, Belgium, and Germany are much less popular this year.

“We are seeing a huge increase in search behavior for sun destinations. Of course, that has to do with the weather. The weather is also bad in countries like Belgium, Germany, and France,” Reinoud Koot of Zoover said.

Popular regions for holidaymakers these months are the islands of Mallorca in Spain and Crete in Greece, the Turkish Riviera, and the Red Sea in Egypt.

While prices have increased, Netherlands residents aren’t spending much more on their holidays this year than in other years. The average travel sum per booking is 2,359 euros this year, 4.1 percent higher than last year. For the top four countries, travel sums increased between 2 and 3 percent.

According to Zoover, this is because people are booking cheaper holidays. For example, travelers going to Turkey this year were 3.5 times more likely to book an all-inclusive stay at a 3-star hotel instead of a 5-star hotel.

Düsseldorf airport is still the most popular departure point for Dutch people flying to their destination, with 32.9 percent of flying holidays starting there. But the lead over Schiphol (31.5 percent) has shrunk considerably. “Schiphol now has its affairs better organized, and there are fewer queues. We see that customers choose Düsseldorf because they hear that Transavia is canceling flights,” Koot said.