More expats booking last minute trips

Expatriate health insurance customers will continue pushing back their trips home and holidays abroad until the economy starts to settle, travelsupermarket.com has stated.

Bob Atkinson, travel expert at the holiday comparison site, commented that many people are tending to book their trip close to the day of departure because then they "don't have to commit to a holiday, they can see whether they can afford it".

He mentioned that to tackle this trend, holiday operators are likely to cut capacity for next year in a bid to encourage travellers to book well in advance.

"What they'd rather do is pull the bookings in earlier by putting out some deals now. They might not be as cheap as a last minute deal but will certainly entice people to book earlier" Mr Atkinson added.

His comments follow research from Sainsbury's Credit Cards, which found that 1.28 million summer holidaymakers in the UK booked their trips away less than two weeks prior to departure, while some 290,000 went on holiday just 48 hours after booking.