The Rise in Holiday Travel: A New Trend for 2021?

As vaccination rates continue to grow worldwide, some people are noticing a trend in travelers booking for this year’s Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Will holiday travel become the next big trend for 2021?

Club Med has noticed an 18 percent growth in bookings around Thanksgiving and a nine percent increase in bookings around Christmas for both this year and the next. Families are beginning to plan reunion-type vacations to celebrate the return to normal, vacationing and holidays.

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Club Med, according to Vice President of Marketing Omnichannel North America and USA Sales, Amélie Brouhard, has seen a large number of multi-generational families booking not only holiday get-togethers but also birthdays, reunions and other gatherings.

“We started to see an increase in families booking their 2021 and 2022 holiday vacations at the end of 2020, which showed us that families are more than ready to reclaim their holidays and time taken away from each other – and that they’re ready to seize their new-found freedom,” said Brouhard. “The pandemic has also undoubtedly affected the mental health and wellbeing of us all, and the act of planning vacations has been proven to boost mental health. We believe families were booking ahead to not only give themselves something to look forward to but to also provide them with a sense of optimism and that there are brighter days ahead.”

According to Club Med, the most popular destinations right now for future holiday travel are ski-type resorts in North America and the French Alps, as well as the Caribbean, including Florida.

James Ferguson, CTC, Luxury Travel Advisor/Cruise Specialist has seen holiday bookings as early out as August this year. He says it’s “full speed ahead,” on holiday travel, with his clients’ most popular destinations being Alaska by land, Hawaii and the United Kingdom.

On the other hand, Miki Taylor, Founder and CEO of Taylor & Co. Travel hasn't seen an increase in holiday travel bookings yet, but there’s certainly an interest for it: “The bookings haven’t been pouring in, but requests for info have started and I am positive these will lead to bookings...I feel hopeful that travel is slowly starting to move, but it is going to still be a while for our agencies to be back to where they were pre-COVID.”

Taylor cites pent-up demand and vaccinations as the main reasons for this interest. While she’s been booking the U.S. and the Caribbean, including Mexico, for holiday travel, interest is also growing for France, Greece and Italy.

So while many of us would love to ditch the traditional turkey dinner at Grandma’s house for a margarita on the beach or a pair of skis on a mountain, perhaps it won’t be as big of a trend as others we’ve seen this past year and a half, like road tripping or visiting national parks. Either way, people are interested in traveling even as early as the end of this year, and that bodes well for all of us.