Travel agents’ growing cruise sales may reverse trend to direct
A March bookings report and remarks from cruise executives indicate that travel advisors’ cruise bookings are rebounding.
Travel agents’ proportion of cruise bookings tanked to an all-time low of 52% in 2021, down from 70% in 2019, as direct bookings gained traction, according to the US Cruise Market Report 2022-2026, released by Phocuswright.
But projections suggest concerns about an increase in direct bookings could be relatively short-lived, with the share of travel advisor bookings predicted to return to 2019 levels by 2025 and increase to 71% by 2026.
“Cruise was hit so hard and is coming back so strong,” said…