Consumers are confident to plan and book holidays at least six months ahead of travel again, according to the founder and boss of G Adventures.
Speaking to Travel Weekly on a flying visit to the UK, Bruce Poon Tip said: “We are seeing far more advance bookings at last. We are now back to 2019 advance booking levels.
“We are seeing far more advance bookings, at last.
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“We are now back to 2019 advance booking levels. For the whole of last year, we saw people booking really close to departure. They wanted to be sure that the tour was going to actually go ahead.”
He said short-term bookings were great for aiding immediate cashflow issues but they made it difficult for tour operators to plan.
“It was really hard for us to keep the inventory open. It was a real gamble. With more notice, it’s much easier for us to make sure we have the right inventory,” he said.
Despite such complexities and uncertainty, Poon Tip is proud that G Adventures continued to innovate during the pandemic, citing a new custom-built ship in the Galápagos, the return of tours to Antarctica (with a 20% discount), and the launch of Roamies, a new product for young travellers in partnership with Hostelworld.
Poon Tip revealed that the UK market was the leading sales market for Roamies, with the majority of youngsters now fully jabbed, meaning they can travel freely after the pandemic.
UK managing director Brian Young said: “Everyone though the youngsters would be the first to get back travelling after the pandemic as they would be the least cautious.
“But they were the last to get vaccinated so they couldn’t. They were the last to be released and so have been held back from travelling the longest – which is why we believe we’re seeing this force of nature in bookings now.”
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