by Donald Wood
Last updated: 4:00 PM ET, Wed October 28, 2015
On Tuesday at the L.E. Hotels' conference, a travel agent hospitality trends survey was released that revealed more and more millennials are turning to travel agent services instead of attempting to book their trips and vacations on their own.
Of the travel agents who responded to the survey, 51.5 percent reported they saw a growth in millennial clients. Some 60.6 percent of agents who saw an increase in clients from the generation also reported they make up 10-25 percent of their new business clients over the past two years.
Another 18 percent of the agents who reported an increase stated that millennials made up less than 10 percent of the new clients. In the same vein, 12 percent of agents claimed the demographic accounted for 26-50 percent of new clientele.
AZ Trails owner and President Roxanne Boryczki released a statement, saying, "Little by little we're seeing more millennial clients. I tell them, do your research online, then call me to book your travel. That means I will be in your corner. They've been brainwashed because of our society not to honor service. But we did a wedding for a millennial client and they later said, 'This is cool, we have our own travel agent.'"
In addition to the revelations about the younger generations using travel agents more often, the survey also revealed that 84 percent of responders felt the industry would continue to see higher demand for hotel rooms and increased prices in 2016.
Of the travel agents surveyed, 60 percent saw an increase in bookings over the last year, 35.9 percent saw no dramatic change in bookings and only 3.9 percent saw a decrease in bookings, a great sign moving into 2016.
As for social media, it had the responders relatively split. While 53 percent said information found on social media sites did not influence their suggestions to clients, the other 46 percent of travel agents did think platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook helped.
Robin Amster contributed to this report.
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