The Coach Tourism Association’s latest survey of coach operators and members has reported an upturn in revenue and sales for 2025.
The CTA’s latest survey of market conditions invited various industry stakeholders and members to report on the current climate and future business prospects of the industry. Many coach operators reported positive growth on last year.
Escorted coach tour operator, Leger Shearings are among the operators which are positive about market conditions. Their marketing manager, Caroline Thorpe said: “Sales are seeing double-digit growth over the prior year, with Shearings — specifically UK sales — trading significantly ahead of the market.”
Skills Holidays reported a 20% increase in revenue and sales in Q2, whilst Acklams Coaches has seen a year-on-year increase of 20% for the start of 2025 for its door-to-door UK holidays. Albatross Travel reported Q1 sales were also up compared to last year.
“The coach tourism market is performing strongly, both for UK trips and tours, as well as the resurgence in Continental holidays.”
Robert Shaw, CTA Chair
Sean Taggart of Leisuretime by Toureasy said: “2025 has started strongly for us and we expect deposited sales for travel this year to be up by around 30% by the end of April compared with the same point in 2024. This follows a similar year-on-year increase in 2024 compared to 2023 and consolidates a trend of rapid and consistent sales growth.”
The popularity of the European tour market has also continued to rise from 2025 according to CTA members, despite challenges with coach travel at ports and a lack of certainty regarding cross-border travel.
Sean Taggart added: “We invested significantly in an increased programme to Europe in 2025 and this is delivering a good proportion of our year-on-year sales growth. Austria and Italy are proving particularly popular.”
Acklams saw 12% growth in European travel and Albatross Travel reported a 7% year-on-year increase for its continental tours.
Louise Fitzpatrick, head of sales at Albatross Travel commented: “This reflects growing consumer confidence, even in the face of operational challenges at the ports.”
Positive expectations for the remainder of the year
Coach operators have expressed optimism for the rest of 2025, with an increase in forward bookings and a continuing trend of late bookings.
Skills Holidays said bookings for this coming August is up 30% on last year, and Crusader Holidays reported that prospects are good for the remainder of the year – and into 2026. Leger Shearings also stated that 2026 sales are currently 20% ahead of where 2025 departures were at this point in 2024.
Commenting on the trend of late bookings, Neil Leavesley, head of holidays at Skills Holidays said: “What is clear is the late booking market is especially strong, therefore we need to ensure we’re able to react to that and we work closely with our suppliers to enable us to capture this section of the market – we’ve seen certain products double in sales within six weeks of departure.”
CTA chair, Robert Shaw is buoyant about the industry’s outlook. He said: “The latest reports from our members is extremely positive for the current market, the year ahead and into 2026.
“The coach tourism market is performing strongly, both for UK trips and tours, as well as the resurgence in Continental holidays. This not only shows consumer spending confidence, but also reflects attitudes about the quality of the experience that coach tourism can provide.”
For more information about the Coach Tourism Association, visit www.coachtourismassociation.co.uk.
