Bradford travel agents have been busy with holidaymakers wanting to change destinations after the tsunami disaster - but say many more are waiting for the right time to return to the Indian Ocean.

January is a prime time for holiday bookings and agents say there has been no fall-off in trade overall but they have seen a change in the choice of holiday.

Mandy Davis, owner of We R Travel, in Birkenshaw, said: "The disaster hasn't changed the volume of bookings, but people are changing their holiday destination."

She also said destinations for many imminent holidays, weddings and honeymoons had been changed by customers to avoid the disaster area.

Frank Fallows, business travel manager for S M Travel, on Great Horton Road, agreed. He said: "Bookings are being made to alternative destinations."

Customers were choosing to travel to the Far East and to areas like Dubai.

Howard Coffee, manager of Cheapside short-haul agents Dave Simpson Travel Worldwide, said there had been an increase in bookings.

"There has been a marked difference since the disaster, business has increased," he said.

He said he believed people would opt to travel to familiar terrain such as countries in Europe.

All the agents said they believed holidays to the Indian Ocean would be booked again when the countries began their recovery.

"At the moment people are facing the moral questions of 'should we go and support them because they need our money?' versus the thought, 'this is our holiday and we are not sure we want to face the memories of what has happened there'," said Mrs Davis.

Mr Fallows believed British people would soon visit the area, as they did with New York following the terrorist attacks in 2001.

"People wanted to support and travel to New York after September 11.

"I think people will travel to the Indian Ocean when it starts to get back on its feet," he said.

But while holiday and wedding bookings have dropped in the tsunami-struck region, the number of people signing up to volunteer holidays has rocketed.

A spokesman from Leeds-based volunteer travel company i-to-i said there had been a rush of calls from people wanting to help.

"We have had over 3,000 calls from people wanting to get involved," she said.

The company charges the basic fee for travel and accommodation, and £100 of the holiday costs goes towards helping the cause.

"We are not profiting at all, and we have raised over £10,000 due to people's generosity," the spokesman said.

The first set of volunteer holidaymakers are due to arrive at a relief project in Sri Lanka on Sunday.