Earlier this week, more than 4,000 travel suppliers, advisors and media gathered at The Bellagio in Las Vegas for the 27th Annual Virtuoso Travel Week. Virtuoso is a leading international travel agency network focused on luxury and experiential travel. At the event, the organization shared data and trends for autumn 2015 travel based on recent bookings through its network.
Virtuoso clients tend to be affluent and well-traveled, with a median age of 56. Demand for fall travel is strong, with Europe remaining a perennial favorite. Southeast Asia is also appearing more frequently on itineraries, and cruising — particularly expedition cruising — is growing rapidly, with a 41 percent year-over-year increase in bookings.
Virtuoso’s Top 10 destinations for U.S. travelers in fall 2015, based on future bookings, are:
- Italy
- Mexico
- United Kingdom
- South Africa
- Australia
- New Zealand
- France
- China
- Germany
- Canada
These countries represent the most popular choices for leisure travel this fall. Notably, Canada is the fastest-growing destination on the list, showing a 34 percent increase in air bookings alone.
Virtuoso also publishes a Hot 10 list highlighting destinations with the largest year-over-year booking increases. Leading that list is Vietnam, which has seen a 270 percent surge in recent bookings. The full Hot 10 includes Vietnam, India, French Polynesia, Spain, Argentina, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, Peru, Costa Rica and the Netherlands.
“Today’s consumers purchase travel in a much more personalized way, looking for attributes in products and services that reflect who they are and the lifestyles they lead,” said Matthew D. Upchurch, chairman and CEO of Virtuoso. “They self-identify based on how they view themselves, and they have a multitude of travel personalities depending on where they are going and who is traveling with them.”
All data cited comes from Virtuoso’s U.S. and Canada based travel agency members.