ALG Vacations’ Jim Tedesco on How Advisors Can Deal with a Disruptive Start of the Year

With the Iran conflict and soaring oil prices dominating headlines for the last few months, it’s easy to forget just how disastrous Q1 2026 was for sun-and-sand destinations.

Yes, there’s been increased booking hesitancy and lower consumer confidence in travel in general, tied to heightened anxieties over geopolitical conflicts around the globe, long TSA lines, and a weak U.S. dollar—but for popular tourist regions like Jamaica and Mexico, additional crises have compounded the problem. Hurricane Melissa weakened Jamaica’s tourism sector, scaring away some travelers and reducing hotel capacity (as of writing, some resorts still have not reopened and will not until next year). In Puerto Vallarta, the death of El Mencho and the subsequent cartel violence only heightened pre-existing travel anxieties.

For travel advisors who rely on resort bookings and middle-income clientele, the 2026 slowdown has been stressful. With so much noise in the public sphere about travel anxieties, many advisors are looking for practical advice to drive more bookings, reinforce value, and restore client confidence.

Travel Market Report sat down with Jim Tedesco, vice president of sales at ALG Vacations, at this year’s Elite Emerald Retreat in Miches, Dominican Republic to discuss the current challenges in the market, how advisors can adapt, and what his company is doing to help support sales in a difficult environment.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TMR: What are the biggest challenges in the market right now for travel advisors?

Jim Tedesco: I think right now we are seeing some challenges around pricing. The economy has certainly made people think a little bit about going on vacation. Whether you’re staying at a 3-star hotel or a 5-star hotel, vacation is always viewed as a luxury item, so when money gets tight, it’s typically the first thing that tends to scale back or be put on the back burner.

We’ve responded to that by expanding our low deposits and expanding our charter markets. That expansion provides the value a lot of people are looking for, and it’s important we find ways to bring those people into the market because the industry doesn’t solely survive on the 5-star traveler. They need all variations of spend in the market.

Another challenge is just the disruptions that have gone on in the industry … and all the geopolitical concerns that are out there right now. There are a lot of things currently making people think twice. As advisors, we need to stay positive about the destinations we serve and give customers the information they need to make an informed decision. They have to be the ones who ultimately say “yes” to the trip.

That’s why travel protection is such a big piece—because travel protection gives them a low deposit. It helps get that customer into the market. Maybe they don’t have the money now but they think they’ll have it down the road or they’ll pay it off little by little. It also gives them the best price guarantee, so even if the price goes down, we can rebook it at that lower price… It helps overcome a lot of those obstacles that are making people a little shy about saying yes to a trip.

TMR: Have you seen an uptick in travelers booking domestic vacations? Do you think that’s an opportunity for clients who are nervous about international travel right now?

Jim Tedesco: Domestic has always been a great option for vacation seekers that just prefer not to get on a plane, and we’ve always served the domestic market quite well. We continue to see Florida do well, we see Vegas, we have all the major spots in California … Under Canvas just gives us another option and something really different.

It’s fun, it’s unique, it’s something different, and it gives travelers that experiential travel that maybe those Instagram seekers want, but don’t necessarily want to get on a plane for … Maybe the airfare into one of the Under Canvas destinations is less than somewhere else, and it still delivers that high-quality experience they’re looking for.

TMR: How does ALG Vacations’ ENVF program fit into today’s travel advisor strategy, given recent concerns about rising airfare costs?

Exclusive Nonstop Vacation Flights have always served a purpose. Even at a time when scheduled air is seeing restrictions around fuel pricing and cutbacks on some routes, ENVF continues to shine for the same reasons it does in good times: it provides a competitive price point for both the advisor and the customer.

[ENVF] provides a nonstop option in many of the markets we operate in where nonstop service doesn’t otherwise exist … In many cases, it’s the only nonstop. It opens barriers and borders for travelers and makes travel more accessible.

It also provides a commission to the travel advisor, because we pay up to 15% commission on those ENVF flights, whereas on scheduled carriers you aren’t getting that … It will always be competitively priced compared to other airlines.

We rolled out Tulsa, New Orleans, and Raleigh this year, and those three markets are performing well [ed. note: flights are to Cancun, Cancun/Riviera Maya, and Punta Cana, respectively]. We always have our eyes on new markets … Those new [routes] bring new life to the industry and the markets that they serve, because in many cases, there wasn’t a nonstop before. There are a lot of hotels in these destinations, and they all need airlift to get people into the destination.

TMR: ALG Vacations just launched the new travel advisor portal earlier this month. What feedback have you heard from the trade?

Jim Tedesco: We’ve gotten very strong positive feedback on it … It has really been a game changer for a lot of the agencies because we’ve always provided monthly automated reports, but when you look at a generated report, it’s just numbers. Now we have charts and different ways that you can really digest [the data] so that everyone can find the [best way for them] to understand the numbers.

It is also in real time, so you can look at it today, you can look at it tomorrow, and it will be updated with your numbers from the bookings the day before … This helps keep those numbers front of mind so advisors can stay focused on the strategies needed to drive the business forward.

We’ve also gotten really good feedback on the ticketing side. Rather than emailing in or calling in to ask what’s going on with something, advisors can pull up the ticket in the portal and see exactly where it is in the process … There’s a lot of efficiency that now comes with that. You don’t have to call in, email, or wait. You can get a lot of those answers on demand.

TMR: ALGV also recently unveiled a Spanish version of its travel advisor training, ALGVPro. What was the strategy behind that decision?

Jim Tedesco: It became very clear [to the sales team] that there are pockets of opportunity across the United States that we weren’t tapping into to the best of our ability … There are advisors that may speak English, but it’s not their first language, and while they may not need a booking engine or documents in Spanish, it would be helpful for them to receive education from us … in their native language.

We’ve started with Spanish and rolled that out quite successfully … We also have Spanish-speaking BDMs, so once we see people taking the course in Spanish, we can reach out and offer additional support from someone who speaks their language.

It just launched, so it’s fairly new, but it has been well received, and it’s a big step for us … I’m kind of proud of how quickly we were able to do it.