Bowman’s Travel Brief: The One Thing the Booming Travel Industry Will Always Need

Image: Advisors at ASTA's 2024 Travel Advisor Conference (Photo Credit: Eric Bowman)
Image: Advisors at ASTA's 2024 Travel Advisor Conference (Photo Credit: Eric Bowman)

Recently, Phocuswright's Global Travel Market Report 2024 revealed the industry exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 2023 with a 24 percent increase in gross bookings and a total spend of $1.5 trillion.

It said that a “growing dominance of online travel,” is driving the travel industry recovery. Online bookings will continue to rise, and by 2026, online bookings are expected to account for a significant 65 percent of all travel bookings globally.

That’s nice and not entirely too surprising given the digital world we live in.

However, don’t let it fool you into forgetting the one thing that the travel industry will always need.

I’m talking about the travel advisor.

There will always be a need for the travel advisor to help with booking vacations and assisting travelers when something happens during the trip.

I find these online bookings projections fascinating, especially given the fact that so many travel advisors have an incredibly thriving business right now, many even breaking their own sales records.

Those who book online are doing themselves a disservice. There are so many benefits to using a travel advisor, and there are so many crazy travel stories that prove this to be true.

The travel industry will break records over the next decade, and it’s the travel advisor that will continue to help it thrive in a myriad of ways, more than what can be tracked just by bookings.

Let me know your thoughts and follow me on social media: @EricBowman_

 

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Eric Bowman

Eric Bowman

Editor-in-Chief

Eric Bowman is the Editor-in-Chief of TravelPulse. A graduate of The University of Georgia, Eric has been working in online media, radio and TV for over a decade. He currently lives in Georgia with his wife, daughter, and son. 

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