March was the most successful sales month since the start of COVID, according to Travel Counsellors.

The homeworking group says UK leisure sales for the month were up 149% and corporate sales were up 120% on the same period in 2019.

On average, spend on holidays has increased 20% on 2019 levels, with clients upgrading trips. 

UK holidaymakers are now beginning to plan slightly more ahead, on average, making bookings about 100 days prior to the departure date.

Travel Counsellors has already generated nearly £60m of departures for 2023, which it says is an increase of 63% on sales for 2020 departures at the same time in 2019.

A high number of bookings for Easter have been made by families looking to take advantage of the long Easter break.

The most popular destinations for last-minute Easter departures are Dubai, Tenerife, New York and skiing holidays in France.

Rome and Barcelona are proving popular destinations for May departures, while the most popular short-haul departures for summer are Corfu, Crete, Italy and the Algarve.

CEO Steve Byrne said: “We anticipate this upward trajectory of bookings to continue as people look to make up for lost time.”