Travel Leaders Network (TLN) recently surveyed its North American travel agency owners about a variety of topics important to travel advisors. The survey findings reveal that luxury travel is on the rise, independent (FIT) travel presents a promising opportunity for travel advisors, and TLN members are seeing positive returns from their investments in lead generation and social media marketing.
More advisors found that the fastest-growing ocean cruise segments are luxury and contemporary, with premium lagging behind. Most members reported that they expected over 10 percent growth in 2025 for luxury and contemporary, compared to between 5 and 10 percent for premium. River cruises are expected to grow as well, with 38 percent surveyed looking forward to sales growth over 10 percent in this sector.
On the land side, using 2024 as a baseline, TLN members plan to sell more FIT travel in the new year. Nearly 80 percent of respondents expect to sell over 5 percent more in the FIT segment. Group travel shows mild growth, as well, with just 40 percent of respondents forecasting over 5 percent in sales improvements.
All-inclusive resorts, where 50 percent surveyed are forecasting between 5 and 10 percent growth and 38 percent are seeing less than 5 percent growth, is an area of travel with softening sales.
On the marketing side, TLN’s advisors see the value of social media. Forty percent of respondents listed it as their No. 1 most effective way of driving new sales. To this point, Travel Leaders Network has introduced the new Social Share Pro to give members an automatic way of pushing new, fresh content onto their social platforms. And members reported that their No. 1 change in business priority from 2024 to 2025 is to invest more in marketing and lead generation, including in Travel Leaders Network’s engagement programs and Agent Profiler.
Travel advisors seem to be embracing the potential of artificial intelligence, too, with all respondents indicating plans to incorporate AI in some way next year. The primary applications they intend to focus on include marketing communications, customer service responses, and crafting their profiles on Agent Profiler.
For more information, visit www.travelleadersnetwork.com.
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