Travel with Katie Butler of Total Travel: I can’t believe that the festive season and Christmas is just around the corner and how incredibly fast this year seems to have flown by (again.)
Our adventures for 2025 have almost come to an end. It is less than two months to Christmas and once again we are delighted to announce that we will be working alongside Mission Christmas Cash for Kids and all three of our branches in Heckmondwike, Ossett and Brighouse will be official drop off points for this cause.
This Christmas, hundreds of thousands of children will be living in poverty across the UK. Many are at risk of waking up with nothing under the tree because Christmas is a luxury their families simply can’t afford. We are getting ready to help Santa reach children who might receive nothing – making sure they have something special to open on Christmas morning. We are collecting unwrapped toys and gifts for local children that for one reason or another will not be receiving Christmas presents this year. If you would like to help us with our mission – please drop donations into one of our stores, on or before December 18, to give us time to deliver to the Cash for Kids warehouse, in time for them to distribute the presents. Unlike many, the families and children supported by this mission cannot reduce their outgoings, reduce food bills or cancel holidays, because they have never had these luxuries to begin with. We absolutely love doing this to help local children and this year, having three drop off points, we are hoping you can help us to make it our biggest collection yet.
October and November has proven to be a popular time for our staff to take their annual leave. Claire at our Ossett branch is currently in Egypt, Alison at Brighouse is visiting Cambodia and Thailand (top of my bucket-list), and Kath at Heckmondwike is due to visit the Xmas markets of Cologne. I can’t wait to hear all about it and update you on their adventures.
Ordinarily, the months of November and December tend to quieten down for our industry, giving us some valuable breathing space to plan ahead for what we call our “peak season” in January and February. This is usually the time when customers begin thinking about their next getaway after the festive period, so having time to prepare is essential. Interestingly, though and like last year we have continued to see a steady flow of late bookings, which typically start to taper off around now. In fact, 12 per cent of all bookings taken last week were for travel within this very month, while an impressive 26 per cent of new bookings were for departures within the next 12 weeks. This shows that demand remains strong even as we move into the quieter winter months. Part of this could be attributed to the incredible Black Friday deals currently available, with discounts of up to £100 off per person — that’s £400 for a family of four (see what I did there!). These offers are clearly catching attention, with the most popular destinations last week, based on passenger numbers being Tenerife, Turkey and good old Benidorm.