The proportion of travel agents feeling positive about the health of the travel industry has edged up from 82% to 84% in the past 12 months.
And almost two thirds (61%) of agents in an annual nationwide poll by Carnival Cruise Lines said the outlook for holiday bookings in 2014 is good or very strong.
More than three quarters of agents (76%) hit their sales targets in the second and third quarters of this year and a further 79% predict they will hit their targets for the fourth quarter.
Despite several incidents faced by the cruise industry earlier this year, including high profile incidents involving Carnival Cruise Lines ships, results revealed that concerns on safety are not proving to be as big of a challenge as they were six months ago.
Seventeen per cent of agents said safety was one of the biggest challenges facing the cruise sector – almost halved from 33%.
Nearly half said that there continued to be a lot of discounting in the cruise market but that it had improved. A further 26% of agents believed that there was not too much discounting in the sector.
Those consumers least affected by the struggling economy – mature couples – are booking the most trips (66%).
Families (48%) were the second most popular group of customers responsible for driving the most bookings, with young couples in third.
Agents were most confident about booking all inclusive holidays, followed by package holidays and cruises.
The US was rated as the top destination by agents, followed by Turkey and Spain.
The US line’s UK managing director Adolfo Perez said: “It’s been a challenging year for the travel industry so it’s great to see agents confident and in such a positive frame of mind heading into 2014.
“We’re pleased that cruising continues to generate substantial business for the trade in the UK, and here’s to a successful year ahead with all our travel agent partners.”