Trafalgar has launched a ‘cheat sheet’ to help agents complete sales to customers with common ‘holiday woes’.
Wanderlust or Wonder-lost? suggests ways agents can help clients overcome barriers to travel.
It follows research by the operator to uncover what travellers are seeking from a holiday, and what constitutes living ‘the good life’ – which found that travel, although enjoyable, can be stressful.
Key takeaways from the study suggest that clients rate travel experiences higher than material goods. However it suggests that rather than holidays evoking wanderlust, the wonder of travel is getting lost. It found:
- 79% said having experiences is more important than having products
- 50% said the time and research needed to plan a holiday makes travel unduly stressful
- 39% said the pressures of social media contributed to travel being stressful
- 47% feel guilty when they haven’t seen all the sights while on holiday
- 37% felt they did not see any ‘real’ culture on their last trip
- 61% agreed that being in places with large crowds is a negative aspect of travel
Trafalgar created the two-page cheat sheet for agents of the back of its research. It gives ideas for how agents can help their clients overcome these barriers to travel.
For example, to overcome the perception that travelling has become overcrowded, the cheat sheet says guests travelling with a guided holiday operator like Trafalgar can skip the queues at tourist hotspots like The Vatican.
To address the concern that travel has become too stressful it highlights that travel directors on guided tours can take care of all planning, and that guided operators hand-pick hotels and transport guests from A to B.
The cheat sheet will be distributed to agents in January and can be downloaded at trafalgar.com/agents.
The operator will also discuss the survey’s finding in Trends Sessions throughout 2019.