Travel Leaders Group reports luxury travel bookings are booming. A recent survey shows that in all categories – luxury hotel, first class/business class airfare, luxury cruises, cruise suites and luxury tours – over 80 percent of all respondents indicate that their bookings are equal to or higher than last year at this time.
Travel Leaders reports the gains are based on responses from 479 U.S.-based travel agency owners, managers and frontline travel agents who book luxury travel. These results are part of the larger 2012 Fall Travel Trends Survey conducted by Travel Leaders Group from July 30 - August 23, 2012, in which 871 travel agents participated.
Agents from Travel Leaders Group along with those affiliated with Travel Leaders Group’s Luxury Travel Network, Nexion, Results! Travel, Tzell Travel Group and Vacation.com units participated.
“Since luxury travel is such a vital, growing segment of our overall business, we viewed this survey as a prime opportunity to benchmark how we are performing in that space across our various travel agency brands,” stated Travel Leaders Group CEO Barry Liben.
“I’m pleased with the significant majority that say their luxury travel bookings are higher than or on par with this time last year. As we wrap up 2012 and look ahead to 2013, we hope even more of our agents and agencies will take advantage of the programs and supplier partnerships already in place," Liben said.
Luxury Trends: Travel Leaders Group’s luxury-oriented survey participants were asked to compare bookings in various luxury categories to this time last year:
· Luxury Hotel Bookings: A vast majority (82.4%) indicate that their luxury travel bookings are higher than or on par with this time last year. Specifically 39.9 percent indicate these bookings have increased, while 42.5 percent say they have remained the same.
· First Class/Business Class Airline Bookings: A significant majority (83.2%) of those polled state their first class/business class airline bookings are higher than or the same as this time last year. Bookings have increased for 33.9 percent, while 49.3 percent indicate their bookings in this area have remained the same.
· Luxury Cruise Bookings: Nearly 82 percent of those polled state their luxury cruise bookings are equal to or better than this time last year. Specifically 38.4 percent indicate these bookings are higher, while 43.3 percent state their bookings have remained the same.
· Cruise Suite Bookings: When asked “Compared to this time last year, have your year-to-date bookings of cruise suites increased, remained the same or decreased?” a full 86 percent state their bookings have either increased or remained the same. Specifically, 36.4 percent of those polled have seen an increase, while 49.6 percent indicate their bookings have remained the same.
· Luxury Tour Bookings: When asked how their luxury tour bookings have fared this year, a large majority (81.6%) indicate that these bookings are higher than or the same as this time last year. Bookings have increased for 36.8 percent, while bookings have remained the same 44.8 percent.
Visit www.TravelLeadersGroup.com