Lost in the headlines about Premier Cruise Lines, airport
congestion, the ASTA convention, the Olympics and Denzel
Washington's new movie was this little nugget from the number
crunchers at the Commerce Department: According to the Office of
Tourism Industries, more Americans traveled to Europe in the
off-season than in the May-September peak.
The European Travel Commission has been tracking this trend for
several years, and the off-peak finally caught up with the peak
this year, when U.S.-citizen departures for the seven months ending
in April came to 5,918,726. That's about 100 more people than the
previous five-month peak.
For the first time in any 12-month period, winter won. And, to
hear the tourist boards tell it, winter in Europe is not just about
skiing anymore.
There are lots of reasons for this, aside from the obvious head
start that the off-peak season gets because it's seven months, not
five: More boomers with empty nests, more families willing to take
their kids out of school for a winter holiday, more people
traveling in the shoulder season to avoid crowds, more aggressive
winter sales by airlines and other suppliers, more aggressive
winter promotions by tourist offices, more winter products from
tour operators. Maybe even global warming.
Whatever the reason, it's worth asking if travel agents are
looking at a separate market that might require slightly different
selling techniques, a slightly different presentation of the
product knowledge. Call it the off-peak niche. Selling Paris in the
spring is a piece of cake for most agents, but how many agents feel
they are particularly well-equipped to counsel a client about, say,
Amsterdam in February? What's unique about it? What's frozen,
what's closed? What's to do? What do you do differently?
Agents should know the answers to these questions because, from
the looks of things, the majority of clients will be asking them
from now on.