Across the board the travel industry saw volume and spend flat-line during a period that in a football free year would be expected to be on the up and up. Unusually for Summer, travellers were choosing to stay in their arm chairs cheering on their team of choice rather than booking the otherwise traditional last minute breaks. Summer travel was not looking promising.
However, fear not! After June comes July - and the exit of England from the World Cup. Holidays become just what is needed to banish those footballing blues. The desire for some sea and sun has returned and bookings have surged.
Lastminute.com reported that bookings on Sunday and Monday - the 2nd and 3rd of July - increased by 35%, with 80% of the bookings being for departures in the next two weeks.
This trend is something that was expected amongst online travel experts as a similar pattern occurred in the aftermath of England's early exit from Euro 2004. This prior knowledge, allied with tools such as Google Trends, have enabled advertisers to be prepared and reap the rewards of boosted sales.
And who said football fans were predictable...
