UK holidaymakers are leaving it later to book shorter stays closer to home, travel firms are reporting.

The trend is down to people trying to save money while making the most of hot weather, some of the UK’s biggest holiday companies have told the BBC.

Booking.com says the number of people searching their site in July for a UK trip in the next six weeks was up 28% on last year, while AirBnB says more Brits are “embracing spontaneous getaways close to home”.

Pitchup.com, which advertises around 3,000 UK campsites, says a quarter of this year’s bookings were made with just two days notice.

Sykes Holiday Cottages, with 23,000 properties across the UK, say their the gap between booking and travel has fallen by 8% this year.

Airbnb added “all signs point to a summer where guests are again choosing quieter, affordable places”.

At Butlin’s holiday park in Skegness people are making reservations slightly later than in previous years – with bookings up 22% in the last two weeks.

“I think the whole industry is seeing it,” resort director Andrew Leivers says.

“The last couple of weeks we’ve seen a real surge,” he adds. “We’ve got three, four and seven-night breaks… for different people’s budgets.”

Among the 80,000 holidaymakers who will visit the resort this summer is the Harmston family from Lincoln.

Mum Kirsty says: “We only booked it about two weeks before we came. We always try and get a last minute deal. We’d saved the money so we knew what our budget was and tried to grab a bargain.”

She says booking an all-inclusive stay in the UK meant she could keep costs down.

“The worst thing of going on holiday is everything else is added on top so you’ve planned your holiday you look at the price you’ve paid and you’ve got to pay extra and extra.”

Kayleigh Fry is at Butlin’s for four nights with her sister-in-law Kelly Towers and her children Casey and Corey and their cousin Marley.

Kelly says short breaks can be more convenient for families.

“It’s easier. You can take a lot more with you when you stay in this country. There are so many pretty places out there in the UK.”

Nigel Dutton is the owner of Manor Wood Country Caravan Park. He’s noticed people are booking later to take advantage of good weather in the UK.

“Short breaks seem to be the name of the game at the moment,” he says.

“People can pre-pay, it’s all budgeted, so they know exactly what it’s going to cost them. I think we are seeing a revival of camping. It’s a nice way to get outdoors, get away from the stress without spending too much.”

That’s exactly what Chelsea and Adam Mahony from Manchester did. They booked an impromptu camping trip with their boys Gray and Rex.

“We decided last week that we couldn’t afford to go abroad this year so we bought a cheap tent online and thought let’s just try something closer to home,” says Chelsea.

“They’ve got some fresh air and room to run around. It doesn’t feel like home which is the main thing really.”

Andy and Kate Davis from Dudley camp regularly with their children Sam and Poppy.

“It’s a cheaper holiday than going abroad and we still get a break with the kids,” says Andy.

This year they’ve upgraded their kit. “I’ve bought a new carpet and a new vacuum as well,” he says.

They’re not alone – sports store Decathlon has told the BBC that the number of family tents sold has gone up 60% compared with last year, while GO Outdoors has seen camping equipment sales jump 20%.

Both retailers say growing numbers of their customers are upgrading their camping kit likes the Davis family to include luxuries like mattresses, carpets and furniture.

Their family camping trip gets a big thumbs-up from six-year-old Poppy: “I just really like coming with my friends and family. I just really like sleeping in a tent, even though my dad really wants a caravan.”

Waterstones has apologised after booklovers complained of “utter chaos” and overcrowding at an event at its flagship shop on Wednesday.

Attendees said the bookseller’s annual BookFest was disorganised and potentially unsafe, with some social media users joking they had “survived” the event while one deemed it “hell on earth”.

Videos posted online showed large crowds throughout the shop in Piccadilly, central London, with long queues winding up the stairs and out onto the street.

The bookselling chain posted on X that it was “truly sorry to hear about any negative experiences,” and told the BBC that the safety of attendees was “never at risk”.

Kellie Greenhalgh said it was “extremely busy” when she arrived at the shop for the annual event, where readers meet authors, access early copies of books, and attend panels and workshops.

But she said that while there were hundreds of attendees, there was no staff present to give directions or assistance.

“I did not see a single member of Waterstones or event staff the whole time,” she told the BBC.

“The queues were all on the stairs, all in front of the lifts.”

The 33-year-old said she queued for an hour and a half to reach one stall: “I was shaking and did not feel well from the heat and stress”.

“One author had a panic attack and had to leave,” she added.

Another attendee, who uses crutches, says she was left “standing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other people” trying to hand an author a book to sign, and that she was twice knocked over due to overcrowding.

Hanna, 35, who only wanted to use her first name, said she was frustrated because such events were a “lifeline for connecting with others,” particularly for disabled booklovers, and said the event should have been fully ticketed.

While some talks were ticketed, entry to the shop was free – and attendees said access was left open to the general public.

“There was still shoppers trying to browse the shelves pushing through the queues, some with children or more elderly people who had no idea about the event,” Amy White said.

It was “impossible to move” through the shop, she added, and the heat was “unbearable due to the amount of people”.

Another person who attended, Chloe from London, told the BBC “there was no crowd control in place” and criticised Waterstones for “lazy” planning.

“No-one checked the number of people in or out of the building – tell me how they can say that is ‘safe’?”

In a statement posted to X late on Thursday, the booksellers said they would “review and learn from this year to deliver much-improved future events”.

In a further statement to the BBC, Waterstones added that “an unexpectedly high turnout led to very long queues and some crowding around publisher tables and author signings”.

“Both the central events team and the shop team were on hand throughout across the floors, and the safety of our customers was our top priority as always.”

It continued: “We fully appreciate that this was an unusually busy event, which unfortunately may have caused some of our visitors to feel uncomfortable or distressed.”