Icelolly.com Pulse: Winter demand outstrips last minute October breaks

The season became the most searched-for on the holiday comparison site for the first time

The focus for holidaymakers searching on icelolly.com turned to winter last week as the UK’s red list of destinations was slashed to just seven.

The holiday comparison site revealed the latest trends in its weekly Pulse tracker of search and booking activity.

Winter 2021 rose to become the most-searched season for the first time. Both November and December 2021 increased share by around 20% week-on-week.

Share by season in the week to October 10 stood at: summer 2021 31.2% (down 3.6%), winter 2021: 38.4% (up 5.7%), and summer 2022 28% (down 1.9%).

Fuerteventura was the biggest share gainer in the top 10, with an increase in share of about 23%. Tenerife increased its share and its dominance as the most-searched destination.

The Greek islands of Kos, Corfu, Crete, Rhodes and Zante all lost share as people looked more to winter 2021 destinations.

Chris Webber, head of travel deals at icelolly.com, said: “Winter 2021 searches overtook summer 2021 travel for the first time as people looked to plan their winter sun and city breaks ahead of a last-minute break this month.

“While there were still a lot of searches and bookings for October, travel in November and December showed the biggest search share increases.

“The impact of the slashing of the red list was played out in the range of destinations booked, with the likes of Tunisia and Mexico joining the regular favourites of the Canary Islands and mainland Spain on the booked list.

“For winter 2021 specifically, more than half of all bookings were for the Canary Islands, with cities including Budapest, Krakow, Las Vegas, New York and Paris also finding favour.”