A week in Greece was up to £242 cheaper if booked in advance, meaning a couple would save up to £484. Holidays to Turkey and Portugal were nearly £200 cheaper per person if booked in advance.
But as holiday companies launch ‘book early’ deals for 2024, we also found you shouldn’t book too early. The cheapest price for most destinations was when booked in December and January.
Get free travel advice and recommendations you can trust from the experts with our monthlyEarly bird vs last minute prices compared
undefinedWe compared the price of more than 15,000 short-haul package holidays from Jet2holidays and Tui - the UK’s biggest tour operators - last October, November, December and January, and then two weeks and one week ahead of departure for the same July dates.
Our price check looked at all the 7-night holidays available with Jet2holidays and Tui. The holidays include flights and could be any star rating on an all-inclusive, half-board, bed and breakfast or room-only basis.
The price we found one week before departure could be higher because the tour operators have increased their prices, or because there are fewer cheap package holidays available. It’s likely to be a combination of these factors.
Which is the cheapest month to book?
It’s usually cheaper to book in advance - but not too early.
For half of the six beach destinations we looked at - Greece, Turkey and Portugal - prices were at their lowest in December on average.
January was typically the second-cheapest month to book a trip to these destinations, and it was the cheapest month to book an Italian holiday - you’d save nearly £150 compared to last-minute prices.
Spain and the Canary Islands were the exceptions: booking in advance was typically pricier than booking at the last minute, although there was a bigger price difference for holidays to the Canaries. This is probably because tour operators had more Spanish holidays for sale due to its popularity with British holidaymakers, but overestimated how any sales they would make in summer 2023.
Last-minute prices for Spain were a lot cheaper than the other Mediterranean destinations we looked at - the average price of a Spanish holiday was £400 less than a Greek holiday.
We also compared holiday prices a fortnight and a week before departure to find out if prices dropped at the 11th hour. They didn't: the average holiday price was cheaper if you booked a fortnight ahead instead of waiting until the week before in all six destinations. The biggest price difference was for holidays to Turkey and Greece, which cost around £90 more per person if booked one week before.
Can you still get last-minute deals?
Last-minute summer deals may have been in short supply this year due to exceptionally high demand following the pandemic. Tour operators need only offer genuine deals when they quickly need to sell unsold holidays. Last-minute discounts may be more common next year if demand for package holidays falls due to the cost-of-living crisis.
We looked at July because package holidays to sun destinations tend to be most expensive during the school summer holidays. Last-minute holidays in September are much cheaper.
As for availability, there’s still plenty of choice even if you book at the last minute - as long as you’re fairly flexible about where you go. Just one week ahead of departure, Jet2holidays and Tui still had more than 3,000 holidays available across Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Cyprus, Italy, mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.
Our research
We gathered the prices of 15,196 short-haul package holidays from Jet2holidays and Tui departing between 18 and 24 July 2023 in October, November and December 2022, and January and July 2023. The average price is for a seven-night holiday including flights, based on two people sharing a standard double or twin room.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/are-last-minute-holidays-cheaper-azFZA2M1UM1O