LAST year, marketing executive Robin Tan paid an extra $200 for a $5,000 package tour for two to Hokkaido during December.

That was because he booked his trip only in August. Says the 28-year-old: 'I thought I was early already. Turned out I was not.'

They went for two weeks and returned a day after Christmas.

This time round, a wiser Mr Tan secured his December holiday in July. He will be having a white Christmas in Europe with his wife. The two-week trip for two to Italy and Switzerland ending on Christmas Eve cost him $7,500.

'I make it a point to travel every year,' he says. 'We travel only during this period because my wife is a teacher and it is the school holidays. Another reason is I like cold countries.'

His advice: 'Always book early, especially for package tours because prices are jacked up after the agencies secure a certain number of customers on a tour.'

That is indeed a good tip, especially as travel operators say year-end holiday packages are being snapped up very quickly this year.

According to them, the mad December rush is due to pent-up demand from the economic slowdown in the first half of the year.

A spokesman for UOB Travel Planners, which is seeing an increase of 30 per cent in year-end sales compared with last year, says: 'Many families may have put their mid-year holiday plans on hold for a longer and well-deserved break this year- end.'

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!