ORLANDO -- A new survey of Travelsavers and Network of Entrepreneurs Selling Travel (NEST) members has found that advisors' outlook on 2025 sales has dampened since last fall, but overall, the networks are still seeing growth this year.
Details and commentary on the survey were released last week during a press conference at AMG's Travel Market 2025 conference, held at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort here.
"When we compare our revenue year on year, we are still seeing growth,"
said Nicole Mazza, chief marketing officer at parent company American
Marketing Group (AMG). "It might be small, single-digit growth, but it's
growth, which is great, especially given the environment we're
currently in today. We're in a volatile environment."
The most recent survey, conducted in April and May, found that 12% of advisors said 2025 sales will increase
significantly and 34% predicted sales will increase somewhat, while 22%
predicted sales would stay the same. Another 26% expected sales to decrease somewhat this year, and another 6% said sales will decrease
significantly.
Compare those numbers to the survey done last October and November, when 27% of respondents predicted sales would increase significantly in 2025, while the majority, 52%, predicted sales would increase somewhat. Eighteen percent said sales would stay the same, while 4% predicted sales would decrease somewhat.
"Yes, a little decreased optimism," said Betsy Goldberg, senior corporate communications director for Travelsavers. "But that's still roughly half of the advisors who think their sales are going to go up. I think that's pretty indicative."
What concerns clients
Goldberg said advisors' clients have a number of different concerns, most centered around price and consumer confidence.
Advisors reported that their clients were most concerned about the high cost of travel (50%), inflation and rising prices (41%), lack of consumer confidence in the economy (34%), geopolitical issues (29%) and safety in certain regions (26%).
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As a result, Goldberg said, advisors are turning to tactics like recommending less expensive destinations, flexible travel time, using loyalty points, taking fewer trips, taking shorter trips and opting for less expensive accommodations.
Overall, AMG is reporting travel is up in all segments, albeit at a slightly muted pace in some categories compared with last year.
Cruise vacations, up 16% year over year in 2024, are up 6% in 2025. Sun vacations, up 5% in 2024, are up 13% this year. FIT vacations, up 4% in 2024, are up 8% this year. Guided vacations, up 11% in 2024, are up 6% this year. River cruises, up 15% last year, are up 16% this year (percentages from 2025 are reflective of first-quarter results).
"It's tough to constantly have that trajectory up," said Mazza, who noted the industry likely won't see a true normalization of booking patterns until 2026.