Family reunions and milestone celebrations are on trend
IAN STALKER
It looks like there’s a growing number of people wanting to see the world in style.
A quick survey of travel agents suggests more of their clients are looking for high-end holidays, holidays that will likely pay increased commissions.
However, some of those people are less enthusiastic about paying for those types of trips than they actually are about going on them.
“Our agents and clients require more upscale vacations and travelling in small group of people,” reports Sally Mikhail of Toronto-area GMTours.
Mikhail is seeing different types of vacations — such as family reunions, ladies get-aways and milestone celebrations — increasingly turn into “longer luxury vacations.”
But Mikhail says those clients should be prepared to spend when requesting an upscale vacation, adding a “very important fact is that all rates are very high — hotels, transfers, tour guides and entrance fees.”
Nevertheless, “people still love to travel and get together and make up for the time they missed in the last two years.”
Rudolph Nareen of Toronto’s Astor Travels says he’s at a point where he only wants to sell luxury travel.
“The work [involved in putting together a low-cost or mid-price-range vacation] is too much and the compensation is not enough,” he states. “Luxury is more rewarding.”
One area that Astor Travels has been devoting attention to is experience cruises, trips that Nareen believes are particularly rewarding.
Monica Millin of Vancouver-area La Dolce Vita Travel says she sees plenty of clients wanting to go the upscale route when planning a vacation. But many of them aren’t realistic about the costs of such a holiday, she adds.
“Unfortunately, people are expecting to pay what a trip might have cost prior to Covid,” Millin states. “While there are a lot more people reaching out and asking for help, they are still wanting 5 stars for the price of 3 stars.”
Millin adds that she is seeing clients who have never before used a travel agent.
