PHOTO: Front view of Viking River Cruises Freya cruise ship passing by historic village and mountains. (courtesy Viking River Cruises)

If Barry Liben, CEO of Travel Leaders Group, could get his wish for the New Year it would be for Europe to create more scenic rivers.

That way his agents could accommodate traveler’s demand for river cruises.

Data from the 2014 Travel Trends Survey showed that European River Cruising is in the top five international destinations for the first time. River cruising has risen swiftly through the ranks.

Three years ago it was in 21st place.

“Demand is definitely outpacing supply even as major river cruise lines build more ships. The continued success of river cruising is just one of many positive stories heading into the New Year,” said Liben.

The 2014 Travel Trends Survey was taken from the responses of 1,358 U.S.-based travel agency owners, managers and frontline travel agents from the flagship Travel Leaders brand, along with those affiliated with Travel Leaders Group’s Luxury Travel Network, Nexion, Results! Travel, Travel Leaders Corporate, Tzell Travel Group and Vacation.com.

Agents across the board, 94 percent, said that clients intend to spend either the same amount or more on travel compared to last year. A whopping 85.7 percent of agents said that bookings are on par with 2013 or greater.

Las Vegas (41.5 percent) narrowly beat out Orlando (41 percent) for the top national destination slot by half a percent. Orlando held the top spot last year. Maui (39.7) eked out a lead over Alaska cruising (38.3) this year. Last year they tied for third position.

The next popular destinations were: New York City, Honolulu, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, Hawaii cruising, and Los Angeles bring up the rear at No. 10.

The top five international destinations were Caribbean cruising (43.5), Cancun (38.0), Mexico (26.7), Mediterranean European cruising  (22.9), Rome, Italy (21.9) and European River Cruising (20.3).

Overall agents were more positive about the future (83.0) compared to last year (78.7).

“Just yesterday the Federal Reserve said it would be reducing its stimulus program because of the improvement in the ‘labor market.’ A significant number of people are quite confident and comfortable in spending more of their discretionary income on travel in the coming year,” said Liben.

Up and coming destinations in Europe included Croatia, Iceland, Turkey, Czech Republic, and Portugal. New Zealand is strong as an up and coming destination, too. In Asia, Vietnam is the forerunner. South American and Central American countries Peru, Brazil, Panama and Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands are all strong contenders. 

“Also exciting in our results are the unique destinations that are starting to gain a foothold with our Travel Leaders Group clients as the ‘next great’ place to visit,” said Liben.