International travel is on the
rise, according to a Travel Weekly poll of 440 readers who book
international travel. Seventy-six percent said their international
bookings increased in 2004.
What is more, 79%
said that 2005 should be another up year.
International
destinations will be happy to note that agents are seeing an
increase in length of stay -- 51% said the duration of customers
trips has increased over the past two years.
Nonetheless,
challenges exist, as 78% said the value of the U.S. dollar is
problematic to international travel. The distance or flight time
(43%) is also a negative. These two factors are bigger barriers to
international travel than fear of terrorism (34%) or anti-American
sentiment (33%).
Top international
destinations booked by agents are the Caribbean/Bermuda (60%),
Mexico (52%), the U.K. (41%) and the rest of Europe (73%). These
destinations also do a good job of providing marketing support to
travel agents.
Art Pfenning is
the research director for Northstar Travel Media, Travel Weeklys
parent company. For information on how research can help your
business, or if you are interested in having NTM Research conduct
your next project, contact Pfenning at [email protected].