Britons rush to book last-minute August breaks after rainy July | Travel & leisure

Holidaymakers are making a slew of last-minute bookings abroad to escape record-breaking downpours in the UK, travel companies have said.

Parts of England and Northern Ireland had the wettest July on record this year, which has caused a surge in people trying to find some summer sun.

Advantage Travel Partnership, which represents about 350 small and medium-sized travel agents, said that 18% of bookings in the past month had been for travel in August, higher than the 4% expected.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, the chief executive of the group, told the Times: “People have clearly had enough of this spell of chilly wet weather in the UK and are still desperate to get a break in the sunshine.

“Spain has dominated sales in the last few weeks but Turkey, Greece and Italy are also all selling well.”

On the Beach, an online holiday retailer, told the BBC that bookings had slumped in June as the UK went through a heatwave, but as soon as the rain started in July, bookings had increased for breaks in August.

The travel industry has experienced a surge in business this year after the end of pandemic restrictions on trips abroad. However, several factors may have given travellers pause for thought in booking a last-minute getaway.

Holidaymakers were forced to flee Rhodes, in Greece, as devastating wildfires engulfed the region last month, and this week more than 1,000 firefighters have been battling blazes in Portugal. The wildfires broke out as much of southern Europe faced searing temperatures of more than 40C, with tourists fleeing beaches and swimming pools for shade and air conditioning.

This is on top of a cost of living crisis that has squeezed incomes, while prices for package holidays and flights to popular destinations have soared by 30% since last year.

Despite these challenges, travellers appear undeterred: data from Barclays shows that consumer spending on airlines in July rose by 39.1% compared with the previous month, while spending on travel agents climbed by 7.8%.

Kate Lodge, a hairdresser from Eastbourne, told the BBC: “You can’t really get cheap last-minute holidays any more. But I don’t want to book time off for my holiday and for it to be raining all week. I’m wearing winter clothes and it’s August. I don’t mind what it takes, I’ll be getting on the plane.”

Trevor Ridler, a regional manager for Fred Olsen travel agents in Eastbourne, said that bookings had increased by 25% on pre-pandemic levels, despite customers’ constrained finances.