A Trend To Watch

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The lure of a sale can drive consumers to wake-up in the middle of the night and line-up in the cold or rain for hours – not to mention do whatever necessary to be the one who takes home the last coveted toy on the shelf.

While it may not spark as much of a furious frenzy among shoppers, over the past few years Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions have become staple sales in the travel industry in Canada, reports Ann Ruppenstein in this week’s digital edition of Travel Courier.

At Intrepid Travel, vice president Leigh Barnes says 2015’s promotion – a four-day sale that kicked off on Cyber Monday offering 20% off all trips for travel by April 30 and 10% off for travel by Sept. 30 – was record breaking.

“[2015] was our biggest cyber sale to date, doubling last year’s numbers,” Barnes told Travel Courier. “It is certainly becoming an increasingly popular trend in Canada. For us we know that travellers will be out looking for a great deal.”

In fact Intrepid found travellers planned several trip options in advance leading up to the sale, and then booked on Cyber Monday after seeing what was on offer.

“Black Friday is more of a brick and mortar type promotion, which is why we decided exclusively on Cyber Monday,” he says. “We did notice a bit more activity in the travel space starting on the Friday and it is something we may look into for 2016.”

Between 2013 and 2014, sale figures from the annual promotion indicated a 71% increase in sales, with initial numbers showing a 100% increase for 2015. While in 2014 the company also offered 20% off, it ran for seven days with a smaller travel window; top-selling regions were Morocco, Thailand and Cuba, whereas in 2015 it was Vietnam, India and Costa Rica.

This year, Barnes says, “I don’t think you’ll necessarily start seeing companies discounting more, rather offering more value in terms of flexible travel windows and a wider range of product and destinations.”

For the full story, check out this week’s digital edition of Travel Courier by clicking here.