The wildfires around Los Angeles continue to rage, burning more than 36,000 acres among five major fires, according to California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It also reports that more than 10,000 structures have been destroyed, while CBS News says that more than 300,000 residents are under evacuation orders and that at least 10 people have died.
Good to know: In a collective effort to provide relief, several San Diego hotels are offering discounted rates and special pricing for evacuees and others affected by the ongoing fires in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.
These fires broke out just as a major winter storm severely impacted travel across the mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Southeast United States earlier this week, resulting in the delay or cancelation of thousands of flights. According to FlightAware, airports in Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and Nashville each have over 145 canceled flights Friday due to weather.
In somewhat related news, a new survey from Aon Affinity has found that Americans are viewing travel insurance “as an essential tool.” Notably, 41 percent of Americans who bought coverage did so to avoid losing money if they had to cancel, while 39 percent cited fears about unexpected issues arising before departure after booking months in advance.
Wave Season Offers
With the new year, most cruise lines have announced Wave Season offers to entice guests to book early. Among those are:
- Hurtigruten, which has kicked off its Wave Season with up to 25 percent off its “Original Coastal Express” itineraries and up to 15 percent off its signature, all-inclusive voyages, the “North Cape Line” and the “Svalbard Line.”
- Atlas Ocean Voyages, which recently announced the launch of its "Adventure Beyond" Wave Season offers. Guests can enjoy up to 30 percent savings—a value of up to $10,000 per stateroom—and up to $600 onboard credit on select expeditions in 2025, available on new reservations.
- Virgin Voyages, which—in addition to a slew of announcements this week—is offering 80 percent off a second guest, plus up to $300 in free drinks as part of its Wave Season promo.
In other cruise news, Riviera River Cruises has rebranded to Riviera Travel, bringing the river cruise line segment of the business under the same umbrella as the company’s other entities, aligning the company’s U.S. market positioning with its global brand name and creating a unified identity in the luxury travel market. It also announced new bundled travel packages, an expedited travel advisor commission schedule and more.
Just back: Travel Agent in December sailed aboard Disney Cruise Line's new 4,000-passenger Disney Treasure, now homeported at Port Canaveral, FL. We stayed in an accessible Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Veranda and rented an electric scooter aboard. If you have any clients who need accessible travel arrangements, you will not want to miss this report.
Airlines Upgrade Their Tech
Delta this week announced it is launching a cloud-based in-flight entertainment system, evolving the brand’s personalized Delta Sync experience introduced in 2023 for SkyMiles members. Notably, YouTube will join the Delta Sync experience to bring customers fresh, dynamic, ad-free content. Delta will also be adding intelligent 4K HDR QLED display, Bluetooth capabilities, an advanced recommendation engine, and seatback features like "Do Not Disturb."
United also said will also be accelerating the timeline for its Starlink connectivity. The airline expects to begin testing Starlink next month with the first commercial flight anticipated to take off this spring on a United Embraer E-175 aircraft. It’s also planning to outfit its entire two-cabin regional fleet by the end of this year and have its first mainline Starlink-enabled plane in the air before the end of this year. Ultimately, United will add Starlink to its entire fleet. Access will be free for all MileagePlus customers
Running Your Business
Trevello World Holdings, the parent company of Trevello Canada, a host agency in Canada, has acquired U.S. host agency Gifted Travel Network (GTN). This partnership marks the first step in Trevello’s plan to expand beyond Canada and establish a foothold in the U.S. market. GTN will continue to operate under its brand as a division of Trevello World Holdings, maintaining its focus on luxury travel while benefiting from Trevello’s broader market expertise and supplier relations.
File this under “Pretty Interesting:” New research by LinkedIn has found that “travel advisor” was the fifth-fastest-growing job in the U.S. from January 1, 2022 to July 31, 2024—a two-and-a-half-year period. To determine “The 25 fastest-growing jobs in the U.S.,” LinkedIn Economic Graph researchers examined millions of jobs started by LinkedIn members over the dates above “to calculate a growth rate for each job title.”
To be ranked, a job title needed to see positive growth across LinkedIn’s membership base and have sufficient job postings in the past year, as well as have grown to a meaningful size by 2024.
A Moment of Your Time
Travel Agent has launched the latest iteration of its quarterly "Travel Trends & Advisor Insight Survey." We will use these quarterly surveys to learn more about the current state of the travel industry, as well as your business. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey; following its conclusion, we will publish the findings here, so you will gain insight into the larger travel ecosystem and your colleague's businesses.
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