Contents
Publisher’s Message
3
Introduction
4
The vacation: Not vanishing
6
Agents: Building trust
8
Clients: Still spending
8
Travelers: Working the Web
14
Hotels: Looking for loyalty
18
Air travel: Uncommon commodity
24
Publisher’s
Message
Dear Travel Professional:
In a recession, a popular buzzword in sales and marketing is “value.” We hear it every day: “It’s all about value.” There may have been a time when that simplified the marketer’s job by re- ducing everything to price, but not in today’s
travel industry.
The quest for value during a re-
cession no longer means merely
looking for the lowest price, if it
ever did. For the successful travel
marketer in today’s marketplace,
it also means understanding what
consumers value most, where
they will compromise and where they will not.
The dramatic downturn that began last year has ex-
posed today’s travelers to a level of economic uncer-
tainty that is new to them. Understanding their reac-
tions and their new comfort zones is the critical first
step in maintaining their trust and re-engaging them
when the economy recovers.
Will they take fewer vacations or different vacations?
Will they remain loyal to their favorite brands? What
kind of sacrifices will the affluent traveler make?
Good research can help answer questions such as
these, and that is why we are proud to once again co-
sponsor the National Leisure Travel Monitor, produced
by the Ypartnership and Yankelovich Inc. The annual
Monitor, based on a large and representative sample of
American travelers, has yielded important insights over
the years. In today’s economy, we believe they are as
valuable as ever.
Sincerely,
Bob Sullivan
