Europe Sales Are Soaring, Tour Ops Report

The picture looks good – very good – for travel to Europe this year and next.

Tour operators are seeing brisk business thanks to pent-up demand, stabilizing airfares, mostly flat prices and early booking deals. The result: increases in sales of 15% to 30%.

This year’s strongest performers are the U.K. and Ireland, which are frequently sold as a combined destination.

The U.K. is coming off hosting the Summer Olympics in London last year, when concerns over crowding and pricing kept many clients away. Yet the Games also garnered great exposure for the country.

Other key trends include increases in off-season travel to Europe and longer stays.

Travel Market Report checked in with several tour operators for a look at business – and travel trends – in 2013.

Europe is hot – for this year and next
“This is one of the best years we’ve ever had for Europe. Sales are up more than 35% over 2012. There were issues with Europe last year because of the European economy, pricing and the Olympics in the U.K. People shied away. We’re now seeing pent-up demand. Everything in Europe is selling – and selling well. And there’s no indication it will slow down in 2014. For our winter 2013-2014 programs, we’re seeing huge upticks in bookings.” – Marc Kazlauskas, president, Insight Vacations

“Europe is booming for us; we’re seeing 15% year-over-year sales increases across all four of our brands [Globus, Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon Waterways]. We also see a good year for 2014 as economic factors for travel to Europe become more accepted and continue to improve.” – Steve Born, vice president of marketing, Globus Brands

“Business to Europe for 2013 has been pretty remarkable in terms of its recovery. We’re seeing a 30% growth in sales, which is unparalleled.” – Gavin Tollman, CEO, Trafalgar Tours

“Demand is robust, and every one of our [Europe] destinations is up. Looking at our entire business for 2013, we’re up over 30% for land programs and river cruising. River cruising is our fastest growing segment, but even if you take that out of the mix, land is up 20% to 25%.” – Jeremy Palmer, vice president/general manager land division & new ventures, Tauck Tours

Airfares are less of a factor
“We’re not seeing airfares as a barrier this year, while at this time last year we were seeing a bit of sticker shock from our travel agents. Fares have either stabilized this year or are slightly less than last year.” – Steve Born

“We’re seeing a stabilization in airfares to Europe; 2012 and 2013 are pretty much the same. Before that, they were unsustainable. Post-2008 fares tumbled, so now they are really getting back to where they were.” – Gavin Tollman

“2013 airfares are up, but only marginally.” – Marc Kazlauskas

Tour prices are (mostly) flat
“For 2013 our prices are flat because of where the euro was. In 2014 we’ll have modest price increases because fundamentally demand is strong. A mitigating factor is the dollar is not as strong as it was.” – Jeremy Palmer

“Pricing for some destinations was slightly up; most were flat. Overall our prices were about the same this year as they were for 2012.” – Steve Born

“With the overall strengthening of the dollar, our prices to Europe actually came down.” – Gavin Tollman

“Our prices were down about 5% this year. It’s about the dollar, which strengthened.” – Marc Kazlauskas

Hot destinations: U.K., Ireland lead the way
“None of our destinations are underperforming. Out-performers are Great Britain and Ireland. That’s due to the post-Olympic bounce, plus all of the royal happenings. Italy has also been a strong performer. Central and Eastern Europe, traditionally not as strong, continue to come on each year.” – Jeremy Palmer

“Great Britain and Ireland are leading the charge this year. Our sales there are up 60%. London was down in 2012, about 25% from the prior year, because of the Olympics. But last year’s Olympics also helped shine a spotlight on Great Britain along with all the attention aimed at the royal family. The vast majority of our programs combine Great Britain and Ireland so we look at them together. They’re now No. 1 in terms of our worldwide destinations. Germany and Central Europe are also hot; we’re seeing a sales increase of more than 30% for that region.” – Steve Born

“Our strongest market is Great Britain with sales up more than 40%. We attribute that to pent-up demand created by the Olympics. It showcased the destination spectacularly along with the pageantry of the Diamond Jubilee. A second growth market for us is Italy. Ireland and France, two traditional destinations, are also doing well.” – Gavin Tollman

Interest growing in off-the-beaten path destinations
“We introduced 14 new itineraries in 2013 and many of them were for Eastern Europe. That speaks to the fact that Americans who’ve experienced the tried and true, but are looking to get back to Europe, want to go off the beaten-path to Eastern and Northern Europe.” – Steve Born

 “Going to London and Paris are still an important part of our business, but as Americans get more experienced they’re looking for off-the-beaten-path destinations.” – Jeremy Palmer

Off-season travel catching on
“Travelers more and more are seeing the opportunities for travel in April or November. We just launched programs for this November through next March, and sales for November look outstanding. Travelers are becoming more educated; social media has had a huge impact on this. Before, off-season travel was just not done. Now people can see the advantages to going off-season. There are fewer crowds and the weather is still good.”— Gavin Tollman

Length of stay is on the rise
“People want to maximize their experience. Longer duration trips – 10-days to two weeks – are doing better than one-week programs. For example, new for Europe, we’ll be offering extended city stays of six days featuring one hotel and an in-depth experience of the city. We’re launching extended stays to London and Florence in 2014.” – Jeremy Palmer

“People are getting used to the fact that Europe is not inexpensive, so they are taking longer tours, 14- to 17-days for instance. They’re thinking they might as well make the best of it.” – Marc Kazlauskas

Deals spur traffic
“We had a couple of really good early promotions that brought business up. We offered an early payment discount of 10% if travelers booked and paid in full, which ended Dec. 31. We followed up with the same offer for a 7.5% discount, which ended Feb. 28, and a third for a 5% discount which ended April 30.” – Marc Kazlauskas

“Trafalgar offered a 2013 Europe Early Payment series with 5% off, for savings of up to $750 per couple on summer vacations booked and fully paid by April 30.” – Gavin Tollman

“We offered a $500 discount per couple on packages to Great Britain when we launched this year’s programs in September. We also had a $200 air credit per couple on all Europe destinations booked by May 21. These certainly helped business.” – Steve Born