Travel Leaders Network (TLN) surveyed its North American travel agency owners on various issues relevant to its community of travel advisors.
Mirroring recent Virtuoso research, the Travel Leaders survey notes an upward trend in luxury travel. Independent (FIT) travel ‘presents a positive opportunity’ for advisors. And investments in lead generation and social media marketing are yielding positive returns.
“As a company with one of the largest networks of travel advisors in our membership, it's essential that we regularly survey them to stay informed about their experiences,” said Roger E. Block, president of Travel Leaders Network.
“The results of these surveys provide valuable insights into what advisors are focused on, what they're selling and their outlook for the near future.”
Cruise Growth
According to the survey, advisors found that the fastest-growing two ocean cruise segments are luxury along with contemporary, with premium lagging.
Most members expect over 10% growth in 2025 for luxury and contemporary, compared to 5-10% for premium. River cruises are also expected to grow, with 38% of those surveyed looking forward to sales growth of over 10% in this sector.
FIT
Based on 2024, TLN members plan to increase FIT travel sales in the coming year. Almost 80% of respondents anticipate selling over 5% more in the FIT segment. Group travel is showing moderate growth, with only 40% of respondents projecting over 5% growth in sales.
All-Inclusive Resorts
Fifty percent surveyed are forecasting between 5-10% growth, and 38% are seeing less than 5% growth, is an area of travel with softening sales.
AI Adoption
All respondents indicated plans to incorporate AI over the next year.
The primary applications they intend to focus on include marketing communications and customer service responses.
“It's interesting to note that the areas where our members wish to invest their resources align with the tools we've introduced and refined, such as Social Share Pro, Agent Profiler for lead generation, and TobyAI.
"Travel Leaders Network is clearly on the right track in providing members with the support they need. As the survey reveals, while there are some challenges, travel advisors overall are optimistic about the opportunities ahead in 2025 and anticipate another successful year,” Block said.
Marketing
Members reported that their number one change in business priority from 2024 to 2025 is to invest more in marketing and lead generation.
TLN says its advisors see the value of social media.
40% of respondents listed it as their number one most effective way of driving new sales.
TLN has introduced the new Social Share Pro to give members an automatic way of pushing new content onto their social platforms.
