Katie Butler, Total Travel: Twelve month of travel
Happy New Year! 2025 certainly seemed to fly by and we welcome 2026 and of course January as we hope to have yet another fantastic start to the year.
2025 was certainly kind to us with consistent bookings throughout the year, keeping us on our toes all year round. It was also a year of little disruption, especially compared to the last few years – let’s hope 2026 brings much of the same.
2025 wrapped up, month by month round-up;
January: For the third year running we enjoyed our busiest January to date since opening way back in 2013 at our first branch in Heckmondwike. In addition, it snowed, and snowed, and snowed some more, causing chaos at airports with delays and cancellations and we spent a lot of time helping customers with new flights and keeping them updated. Jet2.com and Jet2holidays triumphed at the Travel Weekly Globe awards scooping three deserved awards including Best Trade Friendly Brand for the fifth year running.
February: It was revealed that one in five holidaymakers base their choice of destination around food. Our Heckmondwike branch win locally the ‘Tidy Trader’ award.
March: March marked five years since the EU announced a 30-day ban on all but essential travel due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Annual Holiday Money Report from Post Office Travel Money Service revealed that the Algarve in Portugal bagged the short-haul European destination offering UK holidaymakers the best value for money for summer 2025.
April: Passport fees rose again for the third time in just two years. Lanzarote experienced the equivalent of a whole year’s worth of rain in some parts, including the popular resort of Costa Teguise. Specialist tour operator Balkan Holidays ceased trading in the UK.
May: P&O Cruises launch their 2027 summer programme. We release our top tips for bagging a last-minute holiday. After a five-year wait, we see the return of the ‘pet passport’.
June: We received an invite to an exclusive (I saw it first) look around the new airside developments at Leeds Bradford Airport. We took a trip to Liverpool to look round the newly refurbished P&O Britannia. Total Travel Brighouse celebrate their first year of trading.
July: The U.S. government announced that the fee for the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) will be increasing. Air Traffic Control suffered a power outage but thankfully it was over relatively quickly with not too much disruption regionally.
August: Storm Floris occurred on August 4-5 bringing unseasonably strong winds and heavy rain, causing widespread travel disruption. We experienced our best August on record for new bookings, Leeds Bradford celebrated a significant milestone, with over three million passengers passing through its terminal for the year.
September: Total Travel Ossett celebrates its second birthday. We take another trip to Liverpool to visit the Queen Mary 2 and we attend the travel Yorkshire Ball which was held at the lovely Thorpe Park Hotel in Leeds.
October: The European Union new border control system called the Entry/Exit System (EES) phased rollout commenced on October 12. Jet2holidays and TUI launch summer 2027 holidays.
November: Ryanair goes fully digital eliminating the use of paper boarding passes. Our three branches adapt to long-awaited brand-new booking systems. Hurricane Melissa makes landfall on Jamaica causing devastating impact.
December: We celebrated huge success in our Mission Christmas Cash For Kids toy appeal with our biggest collection ever.
This month we also celebrated our 12th birthday (Heckmondwike) and we have ended the year on a high, 2025 has been another phenomenal year for many in the industry including ourselves. We owe this to our wonderful customers old and new who have chosen to book and shop local.
Happy New Year to you all and thank you. See you in January.