Hot Travel Trends 2022

It’s hard to predict what the future holds at a time when anything can change in an instant and the travel industry remains in a fluid state.

But to get a sense of what’s in store for 2022, Travel Courier talked to a panel of travel industry professionals and tour operators and in this week’s issue it takes a look at six travel trends based on research and booking insights.

At a time where the industry is changing daily and travellers have to deal with the reality of testing positive for COVID-19 in destination, Christian Wolters, CMO at TourRadar, says travel insurance is having a moment.

“As a company, we’ve been encouraging people to buy travel insurance much more than we have in the past,” he tells Travel Courier. “In 2019, about 4% of customers bought travel insurance. That increased to 25% in 2021.”

Although it’s been a frustrating time for advisors dealing with lockdowns and travel advisories, the managing director, Canada for G Adventures stresses that Canadians are still keen to travel.

“My biggest message to agents is that the market is there — we are seeing it come through in our bookings, so while there are still frustrations it’s not time to give up — people still want to travel,” says David Green. “There appears to be two schools of thought just now, and it’s very different to where we were this time last year. If we look back a year ago, we were either experiencing more cancellations where people didn’t feel confident that they could travel, or we had an influx of people booking to escape local lockdowns in Canada. Roll on a year, and we are seeing fewer cancellations — some people are maybe delaying travel plans — but there is more demand for travel in the immediate term.”

For the full report, you can check out the story by clicking here or by viewing the print edition of Travel Courier here.