Travel Counsellors, one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing travel companies, has announced continued double digit sales growth (+10% year on year) for the six months ended 30th April 2025, recording a total of £566 million in sales income, putting it on target to repeat last year’s £1bn haul again.
The performance has been supported by growing consumer demand for personalised, expert-led travel and the addition of 149 new travel advisors to the Travel Counsellors community. Summer 2025 is also set to be another strong season for the company with bookings across the peak summer season (July and August) 11% ahead of the same period last year.
Data from the company’s annual Travel Tracker survey of 2,000 nationally representative UK adults, which will be fully published later in July, reinforces the consumer trends underpinning Travel Counsellors’ continued growth. The data highlights in particular that the key millennial demographic is prioritising spending on holidays, increasingly booking holidays through a travel agent or expert, and leading the trend towards more sustainable and conscious travel choices.
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Key survey findings include:
Millennials are planning to spend more on travel and holidays than other generations
- Nearly half (46%) of millennials plan to spend more on travel in the next 12 months (vs previous 12 months) compared to the national average of 34%, with just 8% of millennials planning on spending less
- Over a third (34%) of millennials prioritise saving for holidays, over saving for weddings or planning a family (8%)
- Over a third (35%) of millennials would pay extra for luxury accommodation while on holiday (vs. 21% of Baby boomers)
Growing preference for expert travel advice
- 44% of millennials booked a holiday through a travel agent / advisor in the past 12 months, compared to a national average of 31%
- For millennials, the top reasons for booking with a travel advisor include trusted/expert advice (50%), saves time (50%), a personalised service (39%) and someone to help and support if things go wrong or plans change (37%).
Rise of sustainable travel
- 62% of millennials said they are more environmentally conscious when planning holidays compared to 2-3 years ago (vs. 42% of Gen X and Baby Boomers)
- 42% of millennials have avoided booking a destination due to concerns about over-tourism or environmental impact, compared to the 28% national average
The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 2,000 UK respondents.
Steve Byrne, CEO of Travel Counsellors said: “This research reinforces what we’re seeing across the business: younger travellers are placing on richer, more individual travel experiences. These generations are increasingly values-driven, more environmentally conscious and most likely to seek out expert guidance and advice to help make the most of their travel.
“At Travel Counsellors, we’re seeing increased demand from millennial customers for cruise and adventure travel. This demonstrates this generation’s preferences for premium and differentiated travel experiences. These are consumers who want more than just a holiday – they want peace of mind, personalised experiences, and meaningful, memorable journeys.
“During the first half of the year we’ve continued to experience good growth across the business, which is once again a firm demonstration of the strength of our differentiated strategy and was underpinned by the record number of customers who trusted Travel Counsellors with their leisure and corporate travel needs.
“I am delighted that despite our transformational growth trajectory in recent years we have maintained our five-star Trustpilot rating, recently reaching 10,000 reviews. This is a strong testament to our customer-first culture that runs through everything we do. It’s for this reason that more than two thirds of our customers come to us through word-of-mouth referrals – which is a strong endorsement of the level of care we provide. We are focused on continuing to disrupt the travel market over the coming years through superb, personalised service and our scalable, relevant, and differentiated business model.”
