Martha King and her business partner Susan Whitson have come up with an idea about why this time of year reliably brings a boatload of business to their high-end travel agency.
“Our theory is people get together over the holidays and sit around saying ‘What do we want to do next year, where do we want to go?'” Whitson says. “This is the 15-hour-day time of year.”
The first few months of the year bring in about 40% of the agency’s total annual sales, which added up to more than $5 million in 2019, King says.
“We’re designing trips for winter getaways, spring break, summer vacation,” she says. “A lot of people travel when kids go back to school in the fall, and we’re planning those, as well. People are also booking now for the holidays – we have bookings into 2021.”
In the age of internet travel searches and online booking, the support of a travel adviser is more important than ever, despite the common misperception that the industry has moved to self-serve and online planning, King says.