In light of world events impacting travel, the Travel Leaders network took the pulse of its member travel advisors to find that bookings have hardly been affected.
The findings from a new travel survey indicate concerns about terrorism aren’t stopping most travelers from seeing the world. Measured in this nationwide poll were “traveler confidence” and the impact, if any, that terrorist activities play in leisure travelers’ decisions and bookings.
Among all destinations, the “confidence gap” (the gap between traveler confidence and impact on actual bookings) is most favorable for Canada – travel advisors questioned say they’ve had no cancellations or delays for travel to that country, and 96.1% have indicated their clients are “not concerned at all” or only “a little concerned” about travel to Canada.
That is slightly better than the favorable confidence gap of 5.3% for the United States (93.2% have no or little concern; 98.5% have no cancellations or delays). Other global regions with favorable confidence gaps included New Zealand (8.7%), Australia (8.8%), South Pacific (9.2%) and Northern Europe (21.7%). Regions with the least favorable confidence gaps include the Middle East (61.8%), Asia (excluding India and Southeast Asia) (55.6%), Russia (47.4%) and Africa (45.1%).
|
No cancellations or delays |
No concerns / only a little concerned |
Confidence Gap |
|
| Canada |
99.6% |
96.1% |
3.5% |
| United States |
98.5% |
93.2% |
5.3% |
| Mexico |
87.3% |
50.5% |
36.8% |
| Central America |
94.1% |
55.3% |
38.8% |
| South America |
94.5% |
56.3% |
38.2% |
|
No cancellations or delays |
No concerns / only a little concerned |
Confidence Gap |
|
| Western Europe |
91.5% |
69.8% |
21.7% |
| Eastern Europe |
87.8% |
55.0% |
32.7% |
| Northern Europe |
95.9% |
74.2% |
21.7% |
| Southern Europe |
93.9% |
69.7% |
24.2% |
| Russia |
84.1% |
36.7% |
47.4% |
|
No cancellations or delays |
No concerns / only a little concerned |
Confidence Gap |
|
| Africa |
81.7% |
36.6% |
45.1% |
| Asia |
91.1% |
35. 0% |
55.6% |
| Australia |
98.8% |
90.0% |
8.8% |
| India |
91.0% |
56.5% |
34.5% |
| Middle East |
74.0% |
12.2% |
61.8% |
| New Zealand |
99.0% |
90.3% |
8.7% |
| South Pacific(not Australia/NZ) |
97.5% |
88.3% |
9.2% |
| Southeast Asia |
91.0% |
61.9% |
29.1%
|
In analyzing strictly the data on whether Travel Leaders Group agents reported “no cancellations or delays,” overall travel bookings held strong. The top global regions where agents reported “no cancellations or delays” in bookings were for Canada (99.6%), New Zealand (99.0%), Australia (98.8%), United States (98.5%), South Pacific (97.5%), Northern Europe (95.9%), South America (94.5%), Central America (94.1%), Southern Europe (93.9%), Western Europe (91.5%), Asia (excluding India and Southeast Asia) (91.1%), and Southeast Asia and India (both at 91.0%).
While the data from the survey reveals that while some clients may have a few concerns about even the most popular destinations, once the trip is booked, the vast majority of those clients follow through on their travel plans.
Key Findings:
Since September 11, 2001, there has been a “new normal” in travel for Americans. The threat of terrorism – however small or great – is ever-present. To gain a better understanding of how this may or may not impact travelers’ decisions, agents from across the country were asked:
“Have you had clients cancel trips or delay trips due to concerns over possible terror threats in the following destinations?”
“How concerned are your clients with possible threats or acts of terrorism while traveling to the following destinations?”
Europe Bookings:
Because of several terror attacks in Europe in 2015 and with ISIS threats targeting popular European countries, here is a look at overall bookings to Europe.
- When asked, “Please compare your non-luxury travel Europe land-based bookings to this time last year,” 49.5% of travel agents stated bookings were “higher,” 37.8% indicated bookings were on par with last year and 12.7% stated bookings to Europe were lower.
- When asked, “Please compare your luxury travel Europe land-based bookings to this time last year,” 44.9% of the agents stated bookings were “higher,” 41.8% indicated bookings were on par with last year and 13.3% stated bookings to Europe were lower.
Timetable for Europe Travel:
When asked, “In general, what is the feeling among the majority of your clients regarding travel to Europe?” the response break down was …
| My clients want/need to go to Europe right now | 12.5% |
| My clients are going to Europe within the next 3 months | 30.4% |
| My clients are planning to go to Europe in the next 6-9 months | 20.8% |
| My clients are planning to go to Europe in the next 9-12 months | 18.8% |
| My clients are planning to go to Europe in the next 12+ months | 9.7% |
| My clients are holding off on planning a Europe trip | 7.8% |
This data on “traveler confidence” is based on responses from 1,087 U.S.-based travel agency owners, managers and frontline travel agents who indicated that 50% or more of their portfolio is made up of leisure travelers
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