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January 30, 2015 By: Natalie Maneval
Travel Agent Central attended the annual news conference for Vacation.com in New York City yesterday and got a look at upcoming travel trends for 2015.
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| John Lovell, president of Vacation.com |
John Lovell, president of Vacation.com explained that the end of 2014 ended on a high note for Vacation.com and its 5,500 members. He elaborated that Vacation.com will push through 2015 as they did in 2014, making it another successful year.
“After concluding with a solid 2014, we remain extremely bullish on the state of the leisure travel industry for 2015,” said Lovell.
The 2015 travel year has started with a boom thanks to a strong U.S. dollar and lower energy costs. Consumers are planning travel nine to 10 months in advance, proving that they are feeling confident about spending on travel in 2015, said Lovell.
Furthermore, Lovell explained that some Vacations.com partners turned the year with more than 60 percent of their revenue for 2015 already on the books, forecasting a strong year for leisure travel. While 84 percent of Vacation.com members feel personally optimistic about their business in 2015.
Top domestic destinations for 2015 include, Alaska, Orlando and Las Vegas. While top international destinations include the Caribbean (by cruise), the Mediterranean (by cruise) and Cancun.
2015 will also be an important year for Vacation.com’s website — it will receive a complete makeover and is set to go live in the spring. The site will be geared toward consumers, making it easier for them to connect directly with agents through agent profiles.
The agent profiles or “agent snap shots” will highlight the destination strengths of each agent, be it Caribbean weddings or Alaskan wilderness trips. This will help the consumer connect with the correct agent and will make agents more visible to potential new clients. Vacations.com will help members create their agent profiles by providing editorial, photography and additional assistance.
Looking ahead, don’t forget about Vacation.com’s 2015 International Conference and Trade Show. The conference is almost sold out so now is the time to make reservations. It will be held aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas and will sail from New Jersey to the Bahamas and Florida from April 24 to May 2.
For more conference information, visit www.conference.joinvacation.com. For more information about 2015 travel trends visit www.vacation.com, and stay tuned to www.travelagentcentral.com for upcoming travel news.
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