Pulse Check: The return of the 'Big January Spike'

Following a rather flat new year in 2021, Infinity's data shows a very positive picture for travel businesses in 2022 as the annual leap in January activity has returned.

As of the third week of January, calls to the travel industry were already up 123% compared to January 2021.

Most of our travel clients are now receiving at least 75% of the call volumes they’d expect in January. Some have even exceeded the number of calls they were previously seeing at the start of the year before the pandemic – which is incredibly promising.

This strong start to 2022 is another step in the right direction for the industry, which has seen call volumes swell since the announcement of the Covid vaccine way back in November 2020.

While the week-on-week growth we saw in November 2020 was short-lived due to travel restrictions coming back into place in the UK, the introduction of the Green List in May 2021 restarted the long-awaited upwards trajectory.

By September last year, we were seeing a 55.6% year-on-year uplift in the number of holidaymakers picking up the phone.

Call volumes saw an uptick when the Covid vaccine was announced in November 2020, but steady growth wasn’t seen until the introduction of the Green List and the easing of travel restrictions.

The spike we’ve seen in January is a sign that volumes are continuing to head in the right direction.

The spike in calls to travel businesses has returned after a flat new year in 2021.

Although the strong start to the year is very promising, it must be pointed out that the overall numbers for early January 2022 are still lower than they were pre-pandemic.

That said, with the return of the January spike and the fact that the October-to-January seasonal pattern is now pretty similar to what it was, it does seem many are returning to normal booking habits.

Are your call volumes soaring?

An uplift in calls presents you with a golden opportunity to uncover more insights that will help you double down on tactics with the power to drive more bookings.

Start a conversation with us today to find out how you can free them from your conversations with would-be holidaymakers.