Thousands go back to work to book a holiday!

Cala Macarella, menorca

How do we know Britain really did go back to work on Monday? Thousands were at their desks looking to book a holiday!

Cheapflights, the leading flight search platform, recorded its busiest ever day of traffic – more than 500,000 visits, an increase of 60 per cent on last year – as people hunted 2016 bargains.

And British Airways reported a 25 per cent increase on a normal Monday and 10 per cent more searches than the first day back at work last January.

Cheapflights says Menorca (above), Turkey and Majorca in Mediterranean Europe are top of the short-haul hit list with Orlando being the favourite long-haul destination.

And BA says the most searched-for holidays on its site are to New York, Orlando, Dubai, Barbados (below) and Barcelona – helped by celebrities visiting over the holidays.

barbados-beach

Simon Cowell, Kendall Jenner and Harry Styles were spotted sunning themselves in the Caribbean.

And searches for Miami were boosted after Rita Ora, Caroline Flack and Nick Grimshaw rang in the New Year at the Florida holiday hotspot.

Cheapflights MD Andrew Shelton said: “This is traditionally a busy time for the travel industry with up to 40% of all bookings made in a four week window.

“But this spike is off the scale. There’s clearly a lot of pent-up demand out there as travel-savvy Brits held off making their bookings until they got back to work, knowing major airlines and holiday companies would drop prices come Boxing Day.

“There are thousands of great deals still out there, so now’s the time for would-be sun seekers to shop around for savings.”

People in the East Midlands are the most desperate to fly off, with Cheapflights’ searches for flights from Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster peaking at a 733% increase over the New Year weekend, followed by Bournemouth (646%), Southampton (632%) and Norwich (628%).

BA Holidays Claire Bentley said: “Almost everyone suffers a ‘Miserable Monday’ being back at work for the first time after being off during Christmas and New Year so inevitably thoughts turn to summer holidays.

“We know lots of people are mulling over places to fly and go on holiday to and have looked at lots of options before they finally commit to a favourite destination.”