Travel Trends for 2022
I usually share my “Travel Trends” advice in January but with 2022 booking like it’s on fire, and 2023 smoldering, I thought I better give you a heads up.
We have been busily booking 2022 vacations/tours/river cruises for months now. In fact, most of our 2022 personally escorted tours sold out more than a year prior to their departure date. Our 2023 personally escorted tours are almost full as well.
The lack of travel in 2020 and 2021 has created a pent-up demand that is exceeding capacity for 2022.
Even our fun in the sun favorites are already nearing capacity in 2022. We are hoping to see more flights added to the present inventory, but given the issues with pilot strikes, etc. who knows what’s going to happen?
My best advice comes in two parts.
#1 book now. Whether you want a fun in the sun vacation in 2022 or an escorted tour or river cruise, now is the time to capitalize on remaining inventory, early booking discounts, best flight schedules, etc. If you have plans for 2023, book those now too. We are already booking tours, destination weddings and river cruises heavily for 2023, and the prices are excellent.
#2 Pay NO MORE than the required deposit. The vast majority of insurance policies we are including in our packages are cancel for any reason, but 99% are cancel for a future travel credit, they are not cash back policies. So the safest thing you can do is pay the minimum deposit, and make no additional payments right up until final payment. That way if you have to cancel the trip, you won’t have any more funds than necessary tied up in a future travel credit.
For the first time in my 17 years in this industry, there are actually places less expensive from the Midwest than Mexico. For instance the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic has been pricing under Cancun/Cabo for months. Historically Punta Cana has been around $300 per person higher than Cancun just because the flights were that much higher, same story with Jamaica.
But not anymore. If you want venture beyond your usual trip to Mexico, now is the time to get that done.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Punta Cana simply because I didn’t find the food quality or service to be equal to what I have found in Mexico. The Punta Cana resorts have been focused for decades on European clientele, who do not have similar food/service expectations that Americans have.
COVID seems to have given the resorts there an added incentive to do some additional training, bring in some outside chef’s, and I’ve found both the food quality and service quality to have increased substantially. There have been several new resorts built from the ground up by companies focused on United States clientele, which helps tremendously.
Jamaica is another destination coming in very well priced, and best of all our strongest partnerships there remain unchanged. With some new brands focused on American travelers on the scene, the opportunities for a fantastic experience in Jamaica have broadened considerably.
In Europe we are seeing river cruise customers having literally the run of the ship. One of my agents just returned from a group cruise. There were 32 total passengers onboard, with 44 staff members to provide service. Last month one of our customers was one of 23 passengers onboard a fully staffed ship. NOW is the time to go on a European River cruise, and pricing has never been better.
Escorted tours usually have a minimum capacity of 20, so you’ll get a “small group” experience, be able to spread out inside the motor coach, and best of all the destinations aren’t crowded, either. My recent American Heritage tour had only 23 onboard.
We’ve all been saving our travel monies for two years, so we have the necessary deposits on hand. Now is the time to get the most bang for your buck. Yes, there are a few more hoops to jump through if you’re going to travel, but boy oh boy, is it worth it.