But set back in fourth quarter
The UK Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC) today (February 17) said that bookings by its members in 2008 rose by more than 1m compared to 2007.
The increase from 14.3m in 2007 to 15.4m showed an 8% rise.
But the Guild which has 31 members including most major UK TMCs, said that bookings for the last quarter of 2008 showed a "marked downturn."
It said that in the three months to the end of December, air bookings fell by 6% and car hire reservations by 21%.
But during the same period, rail bookings were up by 18%.
Hotels bookings for the three months were up by 4% while there was a 26% rise in ancillary services like taxis and airport parking.
But despite the fall in air and car bookings, reservations for the whole quarter showed a 3% rise from 3,556,428 to 3,655,405.
For the whole year, the GTMC said that both rail and hotels showed an 18% rise while the figure for air was close to that of 2007.
Car hire showed a 7% drop for the 12 months.
Philip Carlisle, the Guild's ceo, said: "When we published our third-quarter transaction totals late last year, we warned that the fourth-quarter figures would paint a very different picture.
"Given the subsequent speed and scale of the downturn, the fact that total transactions ended the year eight per cent higher is frankly remarkable.
"As the recession continues, there is no doubt that there is worse to come in 2009.
"However, when measured against the fall in flight bookings, the sharp upturn in rail travel demonstrates that companies are still travelling, but travelling differently.
"Similarly the continued rise in hotel bookings - albeit at a much slower rate - suggests that business travellers are combining trips, covering two or more destinations at a time."
www.gtmc.org