The year ahead looks promising for travel planners, according to the results of Travel Leaders Group’s annual Travel Trends Survey. In this survey, 85 percent of agents indicated that 2014 bookings are on par or greater than this time one year ago and 94 percent stated that client spending will be the same or higher in the coming year. In addition, when asked about their personal outlook on business in the new year, 83 percent of respondents were optimistic, compared with 78 percent of respondents who took the 2013 survey.
Agents also reported that the single, hottest destination trend in travel is European river cruising and that the overall top domestic and international destinations for the coming year are Las Vegas and Caribbean cruises, respectively. Members rated Croatia, Iceland, New Zealand, Tahiti, Vietnam, Myanmar, Peru and Brazil as the top up-and-coming international destinations.
This survey, based on actual booking data, was conducted by Travel Leaders Group from Nov. 11 through Dec. 14, 2013, and includes responses from 1,358 U.S.-based travel agency owners, managers and frontline travel agents from the flagship Travel Leaders brand, along with those affiliated with Travel Leaders Group’s Luxury Travel Network, Nexion, Results! Travel, Travel Leaders Corporate, Tzell Travel Group and Vacation.com units. www.travelleadersgroup.com
