Shedding Light On Travel Trends

Luxury travelers have long been an important customer base for travel consultants. And thanks to increasing wealth and the desire to travel well during a pandemic, they may be more important than ever.

Good news for luxury travelers too. Despite the possible economic downturn facing the United States today, they still want to travel and are increasingly willing to use travel consultants, according to a survey by Strategic Vision and Wealthy Consumer Research Company.

The survey was conducted in late June and targeted wealthy regions of the United States to find participants. All respondents had an income of $250,000 or more and were between 25 and 74 years of age; the survey results represent the country's 8 million wealthy households with a median income of $914,000.

More than half, 52%, said their budget was bigger than it was before the pandemic. Nearly half, 42%, said their budget was bigger than last year.

The majority of respondents who said they wanted to travel in the next 18 months, 98%, did not change. More people are planning to go abroad this summer than last year (42% and 30%, respectively).

Travel to Europe is on the rise, with more than half, 54% planning to travel to the continent, up from 43% last year. North America is a strong destination, with 34% planning to travel to Asia, up from just 18% last year.

Cruise ship trips are also popular, with 55% planning a cruise on their next trip. Two-thirds of respondents said they would like to travel with members of multiple generations in the next 18 months, and 20% said they would like to travel with members of multiple generations.

Lastly, good news for travel consultants: In last year's survey, 40% reported using "a different consultant for planning". This year, that number fell to 22% and the number of those working with just one consultant increased to 43%. In addition, 5% more respondents said they would use a consultant in the next 18 months.

First in Service Travel (called F1S), based in New York, last week published their book of top recommended travel consultants and destinations.

F1S recently announced their consultancy and the top three international destinations they booked were France, Italy and Greece. Most of the respondents, 55.6%, came from France and Italy. Nearly half, 44.4%, ordered Greek.

F1S CEO Fernando Gonzalez attributes interest in European destinations to increased demand and the destinations themselves, as well as the balance between the euro and the US dollar.

In addition, F1S asked its consultants to break down key management by key areas.

In Africa there is South Africa; in Asia, India and the Maldives; Australia / New Zealand / South Pacific, Australia and Tahiti; In the Caribbean - S. Bart; In Central America, Costa Rica; In Europe - the aforementioned France and Italy; In the Middle East - United Arab Emirates; In North America, Mexico; and in South America, Argentina, Ecuador (particularly the Galapagos Islands) and Peru.

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