Travel Trends for 2018
The Joy of Travel Team is on the road much of the year, traveling tens of thousands of miles so we can bring to our customers an insider’s perspective and base our recommendations on personal experience.
With 2018 upon us now is a good time to tell you the top choices we have for the upcoming year.
Top New Experience-group travel! It seems everyone we are booking for 2018 is traveling with friends, family members, or with us on one of our personally escorted trips. Sharing your travel experience with people you love, or at least with people who have similar interests, makes the trip even more memorable.
Traveling with friends is the top trend of 2018. With 5 or more rooms we can offer group discounts, so not only are you savoring your experience with your favorite people, you are also saving money. Could it be any better? Sure it could-use the trip to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or other special event to make it even more enjoyable. There’s nothing like a celebration to put everyone in high spirits.
Traveling with family is another top trend. There are so many wonderful resorts and cruises out there that lend themselves perfectly to multi-generational travel. You’ll receive the same previously mentioned group benefits and have family memories that will last a lifetime. If I may offer some advice-don’t delay. Doug and I were able to travel to several of my parents bucket list destinations before my mother became too ill to travel. Please take advantage of opportunity while is exists and travel with your older loved ones while they are able.
Multi-generational travel comes with its’ own set of complications that have to be considered. A huge factor is accessibility. Is your choice of resort or cruise going to be a good for people with limited mobility or endurance? Is it too large, too many stairs, and too few elevators? These are important considerations.
Our personally escorted tours have been a huge success for over a decade. People always ask me if they will like the others on the tour. Yes, the others on the tour are amazing similar to you. They have the same interests as you do or they wouldn’t be on the tour. By the end of the tour you’ll have dozens of new friends.
Group travel is a great way to check off those bucket list items. If you’ve always wanted to go to Italy why not invite your friends and family to come along with you and enhance the experience? Private tours are not only available; they are frequently more cost effective.
The destinations and types of group travel available are almost endless. You can literally travel the world with a group. You can fly into a destination and stay in one spot, at one resort, or in one area. You can fly into a destination and begin moving all over the place, quite literally from one country to another, changing hotels every night or two. You can board an ocean cruise ship and unpack once, or board a river cruise vessel and know your excursions have already been arranged and were included in your price. You can rent a villa or condo for a week or longer and just relax and soak up the local flavor. Group experiences are limited only by your imagination.
The more exotic the group experience the farther you need to plan it in advance. Most group adventures needs to be planned at least 18 months in advance, or even two years. We have had several 2019 personally escorted tours finalized since the summer of 2017.
If you want to plan a beach type group getaway the earlier you can plan it the better chance we have of getting everyone the best price, getting them on the same flights, and even getting them into the same resort. The best places and best flights sell out first, please remember that. Early planning also gives everyone longer to pay off their vacation.
Destination weddings are the ultimate group travel experience, and are hugely popular.
As you consider your 2018 vacation take a look around you and see if you have friends or family you’d like to invite to join you. If you don’t you’re always welcome to join us on one of our wonderful group adventures. Either way remember “the more the merrier” and give group travel a try in 2018.
Joy Gawf-Crutchfield owns and operates The Joy of Travel. Contact her at 918-339-4805