Agents have been praised for their “critical” role in helping US operator Tauck successfully return to service after the pandemic.
The company’s chief executive Dan Mahar highlighted the trade at an event for almost 300 staff at its Connecticut headquarters.
He said: “Our industry has achieved something really special – it’s truly the accomplishment of a lifetime – and I hope all of our advisor-partners and supplier-partners feel the same sense of pride that we do.
“It’s the people that power our industry and they came together to make dreams come true for so many.
“Our travel advisors and partner-suppliers were critical to our success this year, and our exceptional restart wouldn’t have been possible without them.
“Once again we are able to be a positive force for good in our world and we are so appreciative of all the people who played a role in making this happen.”
Mahar highlighted milestones in 2022 in the first full employee gathering in three years.
Tauck operated within 5% of 2019 levels on its North America, Europe, Bridges and river cruising itineraries, combined, handling holidaymakers in 61 countries and on all seven continents.
“Few companies operated with the depth and breadth we did this year and incredibly – and despite significant challenges facing our industry – we were able to scale our operations while keeping our guest satisfaction scores on par with our very high, pre-Covid standards,” he added.
The company earned guest satisfaction scores in line with 2019 levels and has achieved near record-high advanced bookings for the coming year.
Mahar said: “Restarting operations from a complete shutdown was a daunting challenge, but our staged restart in 2021 paved the way for this year’s success, and in turn this year’s success has given us the experience, resources and momentum to continue moving forward in 2023.
“There are always challenges, and we’ve faced many over the past 97 years, but we’re very optimistic for the future.”