LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwire) -- 02/01/13 -- Cosmos, the UK's largest independent tour operator, has reported a stronger than forecast start to the peaks sales campaign, with sales across brands significantly ahead of forecast and prior year.
Hugh Morgan, MD of The Monarch Travel Group said, "We have had an excellent start to our peaks campaign. We went out with a very clear message for our package holidays of low deposits, great value for money and ATOL bonding, and consumers have responded to this.
There are undoubtedly more consumers buying in peaks this year versus last year when the Queen's Jubilee, European Football Championship and of course, Olympics encouraged some travellers to hold off buying. In a package market that is showing 1% growth for summer '13, we are significantly outperforming. In fact, we had our best ever sales day on 5th January, with sales for that week up 30% year on year and this week sees sales up by 50%" Morgan continued, "Our marketing message has been strong and it is delivering exactly what we intended; higher consumer recognition of the brand at a time when we have launched our most comprehensive range of holidays, with an increased flying programme and unrivalled flexibility".
Monarch Travel Group's other trade brands, Avro and somewhere2stay, have also fared well in early season sales, with passenger numbers again exceeding expectations. Morgan commented, "Sales in our dynamic packaging brands are also very strong. Monarch Airlines has gone into new bases at Leeds Bradford and East Midlands airports, and has increased its aircraft numbers for summer '13. That has allowed us to offer more flight seats to the trade through Avro, and we've taken additional bed stock into somewhere2stay to support the increased flying programme - it's all adding up to be a very positive story".
For more information about the great deals on offer from Cosmos Holidays, visit http://www.cosmos.co.uk/offers/holidays/summer-2013-cheap-holidays.
Note to Editors:
About Cosmos Holidays, Avro and Somewhere2stay.com
Cosmos Holidays, Avro and Somewhere2stay.com form the tour operating and holidays division of The Monarch Group, a leading UK-based travel Group which also comprises Monarch Airlines and Monarch Aircraft Engineering. The Group has a turnover of approximately GBP 1 billion, offers airline capacity of over 8 million sector seats, has tour operating passenger volumes of some 815,000 customers, and employs 3,000 staff.
Cosmos Holidays is the UK's largest independent tour operator and has been providing great value fully-bonded holidays for over 50 years making it one of the most established travel companies in the UK travel sector. Cosmos Holidays offers a flexible choice of holidays from mainstream to specialist including beach, multi-centre, tour and stay, cruise and city breaks in up to 65 destinations worldwide. Its range of holidays includes Villas with Pools, Goa and the Indian Ocean, Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida, the Mediterranean, Egypt and North Africa.
Specialist holidays include Finnish Lapland Santa Adventures, Dream Weddings and newly launched ski holidays. Avro is a UK award-winning operator for low-cost flights-only and somewhere2stay.com provides low-cost hotel, villa and apartment accommodation worldwide.
Contacts:
Helen McNaught
020 8695 4069
hmcnaught@cosmos.co.uk