From Dec. 9-13 at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort in Florida, the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) celebrated the end of an incredibly strong year at the 2024 USTOA Annual Conference & Marketplace — and started preparing for even more growth in 2025.
According to the organization’s 2024 Economic Impact Study (a member survey that saw a 96% participation rate this year), USTOA members saw year-over-year increases for all six of the key metrics measured in the study. Most notably, the financial total of travel packages sold rose 8.1% and is projected to reach $24.4 billion by year’s end. In addition, the total number of travelers served went up 6.7% to an estimated 8.4 million customers by the end of 2024. And the total number of packages sold increased 6.1% to a projected 3.84 million.
Additional metrics indicate that total employment within the U.S. increased 4.8%; purchases of goods and services for travel packages rose 6.1%; and packages sold through travel agencies went up 0.8% (to 60.3%).
Looking ahead to next year, the good news continues, with 73% of active members anticipating “optimistic to significant” sales growth of 7-10%, and 64% feeling “very positive” about passenger growth in 2025.
Following is more of the news shared at the conference.
Member Trends
1. Custom Is Key: USTOA members have seen a significant uptick in custom packages over the last two years. In 2022, they contributed just 3% to members’ revenue, compared to 16% predicted for 2024, indicating that personalized travel is increasingly important to consumers.
2. Europe Is Still King: Europe accounted for half (52%) of all travel packages sold by members in both 2023 and 2024, showing that demand for the region remains steady (and high) among travelers. Even when broken down into individual destinations, the top three “hot destinations” for 2024/2025 are all in Europe: Italy remains No. 1, with Portugal and Greece rising to No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. When asked which “off-the-beaten-path” destinations will be top choices for 2024/2025, Vietnam, Iceland and Japan ranked most highly.
Amid the ongoing demand for Italy, Steve Perillo, CEO of Perillo Tours, recommends that travel advisors push clients to travel during shoulder or “off” seasons to get the most enjoyable experience in popular destinations (an ongoing refrain from stakeholders across the travel industry).
“In towns like Florence or Venice, tourists start to clear out Nov. 1,” he said. “The off-season is the time to go, because it’s still like the old Italy. You have it to yourself.”
Perillo also points out that next year, Italy will celebrate Jubilee 2025, a Catholic holy year that takes place every 25 years and sees millions of pilgrims visit Rome and Vatican City for spiritual renewal — further affecting availability and crowding in the country.
3. Sustainability Efforts Are Rising Among Members: Fifty-six percent of members say they have a formal, documented sustainability strategy. Only 8% say they have no strategy, down from 14% in 2022.
“We’ve all got to understand that climate change is a top priority,” said Terry Dale, president and CEO of USTOA. “And I feel very encouraged by the progress our USTOA members are making. But that doesn't mean we don’t still have a long way to go.”
Industry Challenges
When asked about the biggest risks to their business growth over the next three years, political turmoil emerged as the issue keeping members up at night. Fifty-eight percent are very or extremely concerned about geopolitical conflicts (such as wars) and 56% are equally concerned over more general political instability, likely related to this year’s U.S. election. (Last year’s top concerns, by comparison, were global financial instability and the strength of the dollar.)
Dale says it’s just too soon to know how the political landscape under the new administration will affect the travel industry.
“You want to be proactive and prepared, but with this administration, we have to wait and see,” he said, adding that USTOA has had meetings with destinations to discuss and be prepared for potential tariffs. “How much will the rhetoric be followed through? We’re waiting to see how it will play out.”
Coming in third on the list of concerns was overcrowding, an issue that came up repeatedly throughout the conference as a top issue facing the travel industry today. Key to this problem, according to Dale, is striking the right balance between local communities and tourism — much easier said than done.
But it’s a challenge USTOA is willing to take on. And to that end, Dale announced a new initiative for 2025, called “Breaking Bread for Tourism.” While the exact specifics have yet to be revealed, the basic goal of the program is for Dale to set up meetings with local destination and government officials and facilitate collaborative brainstorming with travel industry stakeholders on ways to make tourism less disruptive to local life.
As an industry, we have chosen to put our head in the sand and pretend that [overtourism and local pushback] will go away. And it’s not going to go away.
“As an industry, we have chosen to put our head in the sand and pretend that [overtourism and local pushback] will go away,” Dale said. “And it’s not going to go away. So, if I can create a model where we bring the tourism stakeholders together with the community residents and start the listening process, that excites me. I mean, this is an ongoing process that will take a lot of time, but someone needs to start to fill that void, and I’m willing to at least give it a shot.”
Dale adds that the first three destinations he tested the concept with have expressed interest, and he expects to have more details to share early in the new year.
“This is not a problem that’s going to be solved in a two-hour meeting, of course,” he said. “But the commitment I want from people who participate is that they will come back to the table and keep the conversation alive. It’s a pilot program that we’ll try.”
2025 Will Be a Year to Celebrate
More news of note from the conference is that multiple USTOA members are celebrating major milestones next year: Perillo Tours will mark its 80th anniversary, while Tauck will turn 100.
For Perillo, a major part of its celebration-year strategy will focus on travel advisors, according to CEO Steve Perillo.
“We’re really doubling down on the travel advisor,” he said. “We’re giving an $80 gift card when you book anything but Italy — Greece, Spain, Hawaii, Portugal — just to remind agents that we go to other places, and we're expanding further in that direction.”
Perillo adds that the company is also hiring more representatives and investing in more online resources for advisors, including making a lot of video content for Instagram and TikTok, which he says are “getting millions of hits.”
As for Tauck, advisors can expect special fam trip opportunities and a roadshow, according to Jeremy Palmer, president of the company, who adds that more details on those celebratory opportunities will be released soon.
