Luxury travel and cruising are two of the biggest trends that TDC is seeing as Canadians look towards a new season of winter travel.
Open Jaw recently spoke with TDC executives Karine Gagnon and Marc Pelletier to talk about trends in advance of their annual conference, which attracted more than 250 advisors and partners to a downtown Toronto hotel on 21SEP and 22SEP.
“That’s higher than last year, so we’re really happy about that,” said Pelletier, Senior Director, Marketing, Communications and Events.
TDC welcomed its English Canada members from franchised and affiliated agencies, corporate agencies, and from its agent@home program in an Olympic-tinged atmosphere. Agency owners and managers, as well as travel professionals, all gathered under the theme "Ignite your Inner Athlete."
Pelletier said several changes were made for the company's annual get together.
"First, we took into account the preferences expressed by our participants to determine the association with the right partners. Then, we opened the door to industry players we weren't used to seeing there, such as hotel chains and tourism offices, and above all we wanted to increase the quality of exchanges between our preferred partners and travel professionals, by giving them more time.
Here's a look at our one-on-chat with Pelletier and Gagnon.
CRUISE BOOM
Asked about trends in the industry, Gagnon, TDC’s general manager, said Canada will always have that core consumer looking for holiday packages.
“We still do a lot of that,” she said. “But two things really stand out for us. Number one is cruises. Cruise is absolutely on fire. Our sales are increasing by double digits year after year after year.
“We’ve always been strong on cruise but that’s increasing still, and we’re adding partners to make sure we have a nice, diversified offering, whether it’s ocean or river cruising,” Gagnon said.
A recent CLIA survey found that more young people are taking cruises these days. That’s good news for TDC and for advisors in general, she said, because cruises are often booked through an agent.
LUXURY SPIKE
“The other trend is in the luxury space,” Gagnon told Open Jaw. “Luxury travel is the one segment that’s promising to increase the most in the next five to ten years. We are seeing huge potential for that, and TDC also is positioning itself for this market.
“We have free training for all advisors across the network to help them get familiar with the language, the clientele; to make sure they have the right perception of what a luxury traveller is. We’re part of Virtuoso and have been for about two and-a-half years, so we have I want to say more than 30 of our agencies certified Virtuoso. And we’re enriching our partnership.”
Gagnon said TDC also has more than 30 luxury suppliers.
“There’s definitely more focus on luxury than ever at TDC.”
Pelletier pointed out that Virtuoso took part in the TDC weekend conference and that there was a panel discussion on luxury travel to help agents learn more about it.
STAYING FIT
Gagon said there was a lot of multi-generational and group travel as COVID restrictions lifted.
“Is at as strong today and looking into the coming year? Maybe not as much. I would say FIT, really customized itineraries, is definitely growing. We actually just added two partners in our lineup who offer FIT.
“They’re great,” she said. “They’re usually lucrative. But they (FIT trips) involve a lot of work so we look for partners who can help produce FIT custom-made quotes more easily and faster.”
FUTURE OUTLOOK
Gagnon said 2024 looks like a very good year.
“Last year, let’s not forget, was a phenomenal year in terms of sales; a record-breaking year. That being said, 2024 is shaping up to be very good. I’d say a little less than 2023.
“But things are pretty consistent, and it’s actually quite impressive. If you look back seven or eight months ago there were a lot of headwinds. We were talking about the economy and inflation. I think personally that consumers are being more careful with their spend.
“There’s definitely that will to travel. People want to travel more than ever. Are they more careful with how much they’re paying than last year? Absolutely. But generally speaking the agencies are faring very well.”
TDC recently did a survey of its advisors and the vast majority said they’re confident about 2025.
“Some suppliers might be a little more careful about adding capacity. But there will be plenty to sell. It’s pretty stable,” Gagnon said.
ADVISOR VALUE
TDC did a poll with Ipsos earlier this year and found that 40% of Canadians and 45% of Quebec residents plan to book their next vacation with the help of a travel professional.
“We’re definitely seeing that,” said Gagnon.
Pelletier said some Canadians perhaps began to turn to travel advisors during COVID as they were negotiating a minefield of restrictions and had to deal with complex rules and flight and hotel refunds.
“I think that might have gotten them (customers) in the door to book their next trip with a travel advisor, and then they realized all the benefits as well; less stressful, getting recommendations, having somebody you can speak to when a problem comes up, having someone to express your interest and bounce ideas off and benefit from their travel experience,” he said.
“And then there’s the halo effect of that experience, and I’ve witnessed that in my circle of friends. I was surprised to learn that some of them who I thought were booking their vacations on their own are now actually and have for years been dealing with a travel professional.
“There’s also that referral effect; ‘I’ve worked with so and so at this travel agency and she’s great.’ That’s definitely there.”
Asked if younger people are using travel advisors more than they used to, something that has come up in various travel surveys, Pelletier said TDC hasn’t measured that specifically.
TOO MUCH INFORMATION
“But one thought I have about that is that there’s so much information available online, that at some point it becomes information overload and you sort of need this filter of ‘what is the reality? What is true?’ We talk about AI. AI is great for shopping and inspiration, but it will sometimes hallucinate things and not provide the precise information,” he said.
“There’s so much to look at that you need this filter. That’s one of the advantages of dealing with a travel professional. I read a stat the other day about the number of hours and google searches required to book your trip on your own, and you can easily spend way too much time doing that. I think the younger generation values their time and would rather put it into other things in their lives, so I think there’s a little of that in why the younger generation is more interested” in using an advisor.”
GAME TIME
With the Summer Olympics and Paralympics having been held in Paris this summer, the theme for the TDC weekend show was “Ignite Your Inner Athlete.”
Olympic athletes and travel advisors live in different worlds, but there are parallels, Gagnon explained.
“If you take a travel agent, they have so much information, whether it’s a destination or preferred partners or travel experiences. They know a million things, and that’s what they use in their life everyday. Igniting that inner athlete is about how they can take it to the next level, how they can use the right mindset and right attitude to spark that great motivation so they take it even further in their sales, in their performance,” she said.
“It’s about knowing themselves so they can work on their strengths and develop a training program to always get better. And speaking of developing, that’s one of the fundamental values of TDC. We’re there to support the networks and the agents and we want to make sure that we give them opportunities to develop.”
