While the travel industry has certainly taken a hit this year, desire for travel has only grown due to pent-up demand, a factor that experts say will impact 2021.
“One of the things we”™ve seen consistently in studies is that people are happier when they have a trip planned; with Covid, travel has been taken away,” said Jim Bendt, managing director of emerging products for global luxury travel network Virtuoso. “You know how hard it was to find toilet paper last spring? We”™re going to start to see that with travel as availability begins to tighten up.”
While some may think discounted deals will be plentiful as life slowly returns to normal in the coming year, Bendt said simple supply and demand factors will likely debunk that assumption.
“You have all these people who had trips planned for 2020 that had to cancel, and they now have future travel credits; plus you just have all of us who have been home, thinking, I need to get out of here,” he said. “The best options will be in demand, so travelers don”™t want to wait.”
Susan Wilson of Hidden Gem Travel Consulting in Wilton is already feeling the demand from clients who want to reschedule canceled plans.
“I have a family that was supposed to go to Argentina last April and now they want to go next December,” she said. “We”™re rebooking now because we know once the borders reopen things are going to pick up like crazy.”
To help clients look ahead to brighter days, one of the tools Wilson uses is Wanderlist, a digital Virtuoso product that helps people envision their dream trips and organize their wish lists ahead of time.
“Wanderlist uses a Netflix-style multimedia portal people can use to not only search and save destinations, but also find curated experiences, many of which you can”™t find via Google,” Wilson said. “The interactive nature uses images, videos, music; plus, you can invite family members to collaborate within the platform to create a trip to fit everyone”™s vision.”
Wilson said one factor that first drew her to the relatively new service was a natural partnership with wealth advisers.
“They want to offer more to clients and are becoming more involved in things like how to best manage not just your assets, but your health, your leisure time; all areas that impact getting ready for retirement,” she said. “With Wanderlist they can marry the travel dreams of their clients with their financial goals.”
While Wanderlist launched in 2019 as a paid service, the 2020 shutdown prompted Virtuoso to move to a free version.
“We opened it up so people could start collecting ideas, collaborate and look for inspiration. When it”™s time to start putting together an actual travel plan, they can then hire one of our professional advisors,” Bendt said of the fewer than 200 Virtuoso agents specially trained in the Wanderlist service.
Wilson is one such agent. She said she”™s already hearing from eager clients, all with the same general sentiment.
“Oh my gosh, I can”™t wait to talk to you when the world reopens.”
