With spring travel in full force, travel advisors are reporting that they have not seen any major changes this year — despite travelers’ economic concerns — according to a recent report that’s part of TravelAge West’s Need to Know research series.
In the survey of nearly 300 agents, 45% have not seen a significant change to this year’s booking patterns, though 60% say the biggest challenges they face are price increases and budget constraints.
Sixty percent of advisors say price increases and budget constraints are the biggest challenge when booking spring travel.
Credit: 2025 TravelAge West
“I’m definitely seeing this trend,” said Kristin Hancock, owner of Bright Life Travel Co. “Many of my clients are opting for shorter getaways to stay within budget, like trimming a week in the Caribbean down to three or four days. They’re even choosing less convenient flight routes to help lower costs.”
Most advisors (46%) say the average budget range for spring trips is $5,000 to $10,000, followed by less than $5,000 (33%).
The average length of the trip is four to seven days (63%), but another third (32%) say they see longer trips of eight to 14 days.
Advisors are split with 49% saying less than half their trips are to international destinations and 50% saying that more than half are international. The top destinations for spring travel include the Caribbean (70%), Europe (53%), Mexico (38%), USA/Canada (32%) and Hawaii (24%).
Perhaps surprisingly, advisors report that they book more spring trips for couples (54%) than families (33%).
Fifty-four percent of respondents say that couples book more spring travel, compared to families (33%).
Credit: 2025 TravelAge West“This tracks with what I’m seeing, especially as larger families are feeling the pinch of higher airfare,” Hancock said. “Multigenerational groups are still traveling, but it’s often just the grandparents and adult children, or couples traveling without kids to keep costs down.”
At the time of the survey, advisors report that clients are mostly not concerned by political actions and policies — 74% say there has been little to no impact.
The top factors affecting spring travel are price and value (80%); ease of travel (53%); safety considerations (36%); availability of cultural attractions and experiences in the destination (33%); and weather (30%).
Despite my best efforts to always encourage early planning, I’ve had a lot of last-minute requests for cruises and all-inclusives from clients who just need a quick, stress-relieving escape from everyday life.
Nearly three in four respondents (73%) say flexible cancellation policies are “extremely” or “very” important to clients’ booking decisions.
About two-thirds of advisors (63%) say the current booking window is between two to six months out, and 28% are seeing more last-minute bookings this year compared to last year.
Twenty-eight percent of advisors are seeing more last-minute bookings compared to last spring.
Credit: 2025 TravelAge West“Despite my best efforts to always encourage early planning, I’ve had a lot of last-minute requests for cruises and all-inclusives from clients who just need a quick, stress-relieving escape from everyday life,” Hancock said.
Need to Know Survey Series
“Need to Know” is a research series from TravelAge West that tracks the responses of travel advisors as they relate to various travel trends and topics. This survey recorded the responses of 276 advisors across the U.S. See more Need to Know stories here.
