Childless couples are driving a surge in September holiday bookings as they shun the peak summer months for cheaper deals, new figures show.
While grandparents say they are most likely to go abroad in September, the month’s popularity has jumped among younger couples seeking to avoid the school holiday rush, the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) trade body said.
Among people with no children, 25pc of under-45s plan to holiday in September, up from 17pc in 2023, Abta’s data shows. The figure rises to 37pc for childless people who are over 45.
“By life stage, perhaps unsurprisingly, it is those without children who have identified September as an extremely popular time to travel abroad,” the tourism body said.
The peak summer months of July and August are the most expensive to travel because they coincide with school holidays – the only time of the year when families can take an extended break without removing their kids from school.
Airfares and hotel rooms drop in price at the end of the summer holidays, opening the door for cheaper breaks.
Labelling the trend “Super September,” Abta said that travel in the last weeks of summer and early autumn offers a combination of “enjoyable weather and good value breaks.”
Daily highs in the Mediterranean still average 25c to 30C, but with less risk of the heatwaves that stopped thousands of holidaymakers from even leaving their hotels in 2023 as temperatures soared to 45C.
Overnight stays across the EU in July and August have grown just 2pc since 2019, versus a double-digit rise in the so-called “shoulder months” of June and September, research consultancy Capital Economics said earlier this year, linking the change to the impact of falling birth rates.
An increase in visitors from China is also expected to drive off-season tourism in Europe, with February, May and October their most popular months for getaways.
Abta’s travel trends report also suggests that younger people have rediscovered the joys of inter-railing trips that had their heyday in the 1970s and 1980s.
It said that the number of 18 to 24-year-olds visiting multiple destinations during train trips around Europe has more than doubled since 2023. Gen Z has also embraced long-distance bus travel, with the proportion taking coach holidays higher than for any group other than over-65s.
The tourism body said the cruise-market boom that emerged after Covid has continued unabated, but with a surge in the popularity of very short and much longer itineraries.
Cruises of up to five days are now popular with a third of customers, it said, while one in eight are keen to book more than three weeks at sea.
Abta said that those aged 25 to 34, who may be settled into their careers and have young families, tend to value their holidays most, with 83pc citing them as the most important time of the year, compared with less than two thirds of the wider population.
The same group of younger millennials also have the greatest propensity to view holidays as important for their mental health and wellbeing, it said.
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