Sailing Into The Comeback

“It’s a whole new world right now,” says Ealeen Wong, Director, Strategy and Business Development at Expedia Group. “The great news is with pent up demand for travel like never before people are eager to make up for missed moments.”

In fact, the travel company is witnessing a surge of interest that’s translating into longer trips, booking upgrades and more diverse destinations across the board.

“At Expedia Cruises, we’ve seen a shift towards higher spend per cabin and modern trips. In Q1 of this year we saw the average length of a booking jump up from nine to 11 days, and the average spend per cabin increased by just over 100% versus 2019,” she says.

Wong says people are also booking more upgrades for balconies and suites on their upcoming departures.

“From a demographic standpoint, we’ve also seen a little bit of a shift. Right at the offset there were a lot of repeat customer bookings, we’re starting to see interest now from younger travellers as ships return to sailing as well,” she adds.

According to a new Expedia Group survey across American travellers, Millennials are nearly twice as likely as Gen Zers to book a cruise in the next six months.

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