Homeworking agency Travel Counsellors has reported last month was its best-ever February, thanks in part to a surge in cruise bookings and a ‘Fab Feb’ incentive.

UK leisure travel sales hit £60 million in February, up 20% year on year, making it the best February in the company’s 30-year history.

Cruise bookings, which now represent nearly 15% of leisure sales at Travel Counsellors, were up in February by nearly 40% year on year.

This followed a “bumper” January that saw cruise bookings top £10 million.

Jim Eastwood (pictured), global sales director, said: “In recent weeks, we’ve seen wave upon wave of cruise bookings, whether that’s travellers wishing to holiday at sea, or sightsee on river sailings.”

He said more than half of the 1,500-plus agents in the UK Travel Counsellors community made cruise bookings last year.

A month-long incentive, called “Fab Feb”, encouraged agents to beat their previous February performance.

The more bookings made meant more entries to win a spot on one of two luxury trips to Antigua, or a Bali-Singapore twin-centre trip.

More than 150 Travel Counsellor business owners celebrated their best-ever month in February and the top five leisure bookings made by individual travel counsellors in February each surpassed six figures.

Eastwood added: “The record-breaking month is once again one for the history books, but also points to a bright future for Travel Counsellor business owners as we sail into our 30th anniversary year, with so much more to look forward to on the horizon.”