Summer holiday deals to non-European destinations fall as bookings slow

Families are booking later and chasing better value as summer demand shifts toward Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Dubai, even though many holidaymakers still say the break matters most in the year. ABTA’s Holiday Habits 2025-26 survey of 2,001 UK adults, carried out from 21 July to 1 August 2025, found 65% said holidays are the most important time of year and 80% said they are important for mental health.

The trade body said the booking slowdown is being driven by travellers waiting to see where flight costs, holiday prices and the wider cost of living go next. Concern about the Middle East conflict is also delaying decisions, with many customers holding off rather than committing early to summer packages.

TUI Group is already seeing how that caution is reshaping demand. The company said its winter 2024/25 season produced bookings up 2% and average prices up 4% year on year, while dynamically packaged holidays rose 18% to 0.7 million in the first quarter of 2025. Sebastian Ebel, TUI’s chief executive, has said people continue to prioritise holidays despite economic risks. In June 2025, TUI also said summer bookings to Egypt were up 30% from 2024, with double-digit growth for Tunisia and strong demand for Morocco, all linked to better value for money.

The price backdrop helps explain the shift. One industry analysis of summer 2025 package holidays found the UAE up 26% on the year, Egypt up 20%, Turkey up 15%, Greece up 12% and Spain up 9%. Even with those increases, North Africa is drawing more capacity: aviation analysts projected 19,847 flights from UK airports to North Africa in 2025, more than double the 8,653 recorded in 2019.

That combination of higher prices in parts of Europe and stronger demand for value-led alternatives is pushing middle-income families to shop more aggressively and book later. Industry coverage has warned that uncertainty over travel to the Middle East could also nudge some travellers back toward European beach resorts, which may support prices there too. For now, operators are selling against a simple proposition: families still want a holiday, but they are paying far more attention to where their money goes.