East Anglian travel firm Premier Travel is celebrating a successful start to the New Year following a surge in holiday sales.

On the first Saturday in January ? known as “Sunshine Saturday” in the travel industry as it is usually the busiest day of the year for people booking holidays ? Premier Travel’s branches were inundated with bookings and enquiries, both in-store and via phone and email.

The firm has experienced a 20% increase in retail sales year-on-year across its 18 stores since the start of January.

Some of its branches in Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire are more than 50% up year-on-year, with sales at the Bury St Edmunds and Halstead branches both more than double in the first week of January compared with last year.

The company attributes its strong start to holidaymakers wanting peace of mind following incidents last year such as the collapse of Monarch Airlines and the cancellation of many flights Ryanair.

Paul Waters, Premier Travel director, said: “We can put our New Year trading success down to a combination of people wanting security in case something goes wrong, and a continuing trend of booking summer holidays as early as possible to snap up the best prices and take advantage of low deposits. These early signs are really encouraging for us.

“We’ve seen an increase in sales since the collapse of Monarch Airlines in October. Customers have raised concerns over cancelled flights and travel company failures following recent airline and tour operator breakdowns, and they want to be confident that their holiday will be 100% financially protected and in safe hands.”

He added: “For this year, we’ve noticed more people looking to spend money on things that offer experiences and memories rather than just laying on a beach for two weeks, which is difficult to do without the advice of someone knowledgeable in this area.”