Major travel brands launch January sale onslaught

British Airways is running a press campaign to support 'The Goodbye Winter Sale' at ba.com, which launched in December and closes on 24 January.

BA is slashing fares to New York to as low as £376 return and Hong Kong from £579 return, among other destinations, for selected dates.

Rival airline Virgin Atlantic's Christmas sale continues, advertising return economy class flights to New York for £374 and Shanghai for £577 on selected dates up until 30 September. The airline's sale also ends on 24 January.

Thomas Cook is advertising its own "cheap price guarantee", in which it claims it will beat rivals on price, alongside an offer of up to £400 off its summer holidays, following a turbulent year for the tour operator, which recorded a profit-loss of £398m in its full year results for 2011.

Rival TUI, which owns the Thomson Holidays and First Choice brands, is offering savings of up to £200 per couple and free child places on a range of its holidays, including First Choice Holiday Villages and Splash World.

TUI, which announced it was relaunching the First Choice brand as "the home of all-inclusive" last year, has not specified how many discounts and free child places are available saying it is a "first come, first served" offer.

Online holiday brand lastminute.com is running a sale this month on hotels and holidays, offering up to 50% off bookings until 10am on 16 January and 10am on 24 January for flights.

Follow Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith on Twitter @LoullaMae_ES

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk