AFTER the coldest Christmas on record, travel agents in Worcestershire are reporting an increase in bookings to sunnier climes as people flee the cold snap.

At Co-Operative Travel in Worcester’s High Street, assistant manager Jayne Tilsley said January was traditionally a busy time, but the shop had been even busier.

“People are coming in a lot to book their summer holidays or to get some sunshine,” she said.

“Typical places people are wanting to go are Turkey and Greece, and we have been busier than usual.”

A spokesman for Thomas Cook, also in the High Street, said they too had been very busy. “We expect people to come in around this time to pick up travel brochures at this time of year, but we have noticed a rise in people inquiring about prices, availability and booking,” he said.

“I think the reason for this is that people are fed up with the bad weather. We have had such cold horrible weather over the last few weeks that people just want to get away.”

He added that the most popular places were Turkey, Egypt and Cyprus, which he said hadn’t been so popular in the last few years.

“For some reason people are wanting to go to Cyprus this year,” he said. “Not only are people booking their summer holidays and families booking for the high peak times in the school holidays, but they are also going for late deals to fly off in the next few weeks. So it’s been a very busy few days for us.”

Charlotte Barnett, manager of Travel Trail in Tenbury Wells, said: “We have had quite a lot of bookings this month, mainly to the Canary Islands. People have been coming in saying ‘get me away in January’.

“Usually at this time of year it’s bookings we take for summer holidays, but this year it seems to be people wanting to get away quickly while they have a few days off, and get some sun. So the Canary Islands are popular, as is Egypt and the Red Sea.

“I really don’t blame them, and I would go away too if I could. It would be nice to see some sunshine after such bad weather here.”