Survey Reveals Travel Advisor Confidence in Destination Health Certifications

Image: PHOTO: Man wearing a mask at a train station. (photo via TeamDAF/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Image: PHOTO: Man wearing a mask at a train station. (photo via TeamDAF/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 3:04 PM ET, Sun October 25, 2020

A new survey from Travel Consul on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and the future recovery of global travel distribution shows that travel advisors place a good deal of trust in destination health certifications.

Travel Consul is an international travel marketing alliance consisting of 18 advertising, media, public relations and marketing firms spread across six different continents - all specializing in travel. With over 600 clients in the travel and tourism sector, its team of more than 850 experts works seamlessly to implement global strategies with unique, hands-on local market knowledge and industry relationships.

During the period of September 14-28, 2020, more than 1,000 travel executives including tour operators and agency owners from more than 20 countries participated in the Travel Consul global survey.

When asked what the main client considerations are when choosing a destination, the number one answer was destination health and safety certification (74 percent). Destination country government management of the COVID-19 pandemic and price rank second and third, respectively.

Business model adaptation is the number one measure implemented during Q3 2020 as reported by nearly half of the respondents. Training programs have dropped 11 percent, with new product design (45 percent) and product improvement (35 percent) moving up the ranks.

Still, clients are showing a growing interest in solo travel. According to 66 percent of those who responded to the survey, hotels and resorts (64 percent) and all-inclusive resorts (60 percent) were the most important places when traveling alone.

Clients are either waiting to decide when to travel (48 percent) or are booking an international trip less than a month in advance (21 percent).


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Rich Thomaselli

Rich Thomaselli

Associate Writer

Editor Associate Writer true 9281 14744 Rich Thomaselli has written for TravelPulse since 2014 and has been a professional journalist for nearly 40 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times and New York Yankees publications. He is an 11-time writ

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