G Adventures’ highest sales month since the start of the pandemic was January 2022, with travel advisors making up 50% of all bookings for the month.
In the past eight weeks, booking lead times have greatly reduced, with 39% of bookings from U.S. travelers being made for trips departing between now and April 2022, showing a strong willingness among consumers to travel this spring.
Where to Travel in 2022, According to Bookings
Dominating G Adventures’ recent bookings are Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru and Jordan due to less stringent COVID-19 entry requirements.
We’re expecting to see this intent to book increase as more destinations — in particular, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Europe and South America — begin to relax entry requirements.
The company's website traffic shows that searches for European destinations were up 88% from December 2021 to January 2022, while South America searches were up 72% and Asia searches were up 62% month-over-month.
We’re expecting to see this intent to book increase as more destinations — in particular, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Europe and South America — begin to relax entry requirements,” said Ben Perlo, managing director for the U.S. and Latin America for G Adventures.
Travelers Are Craving Adventure Trips
In January, active travel bookings were the third-most popular type of booking made.
Travelers are looking for trips where they achieve something, making trekking trips in Peru, Nepal and Tanzania especially popular.
Credit: 2022 G AdventuresThis was not surprising to the tour operator, which saw an increase in web searches for trekking trips to destinations such as Everest Base Camp and Mount Kilimanjaro in the early months of the pandemic.
Now, as travel restarts, the company is seeing more bookings to places such as Nepal, Tanzania and Peru.
Travelers Are Taking Advantage of Antibodies — and Acting on Pent-Up Demand
Discounts did not drive these recent bookings, since the price reduction level on purchased trips was down to an average of just 10% off.
“January is always one of the most important sales months for travel, and this year we found ourselves in a particularly favorable position, thanks to pent-up demand, desirable in-market deals and our ever-growing inventory of trips on offer,” Perlo said.
G Adventures is also attributing the recent spike in bookings to the waning Omicron variant, which infected many across the globe and left them with a “window of increased antibodies” and a feeling of safety.
Younger Travelers Are Booking Now
For G Adventures, many (62%) of the travelers booking now are first-time clients of the brand, suggesting that travelers are seeking the security of vacationing with an operator that can handle the complexities of traveling right now, something other tour operators have also been seeing.
Travelers between the ages of 18 to 35 have driven the recent surge in bookings experienced by G Adventures.
Credit: 2022 G AdventuresG Adventures is also seeing large demand from travelers ages 18 to 35, with a small increase of solo travelers in that group.
More Travelers Are Using a Travel Agent to Book Trips
According to G Adventures, before the pandemic, two thirds of bookings typically came from online channels. But in January, bookings through travel advisors reached nearly 50%. To support travel agents and travelers, G Adventures increased its contact center headcount by 70%.
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