(Barbados Today) WITH Caribbean destinations remaining a top choice for people looking to take a trip this year, tourism officials are being urged to stay on top of customers’ concerns and keep them up to date on COVID-19 protocol changes.

This reminder came during the latest Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Live resilient series. The topic was The Latest Caribbean Travel Trends: Capturing your Share of Growing Demand.

Ariadne Barrios, Caribbean Sales Manager with Travelzoo, said a US members’ survey conducted at the start of March showed that 68 per cent of members researched travel ideas in the past week, 35 per cent have made reservations to travel domestically and internationally, while 21 per cent had travelled.

Further, 83 per cent of those surveyed said they felt confident they could travel safely, while 84 per cent of respondents said they were vaccinated and received a booster. “We imagine that part of that confidence stem from the fact that they meet the guidelines for travel freely,” said Barrios.

“The Caribbean is the number one international destination for travel for US members, coming before other destinations like Italy, Mexico, Canada and the UK. On top of that, more than half of our members told us the Caribbean is a top destination they want to visit this year overall. The Caribbean was at the top of the list last year as well. So, you are all doing an amazing job attracting avid travellers,” she said.

Travelzoo is a global publisher and influencer of travel content and deals, boasting some 30 million members globally, with 15 million in the US, about 1.4 million in Canada and 4.4 million in the UK. Barrios said that with the Caribbean being on the bucket list of many people who wanted to take a trip this year, it was important to ensure that complaints are dealt with and information regarding entry protocols is kept current and easily accessible.

“Make sure that your general manager or someone who can respond with seniority and authority is addressing the customers’ concerns, especially when they have to do with cleanliness. And finally, COVID protocols change all the time . . . so just keep them updated and easily accessible to folks who are looking to travel,” she recommended.

She noted that beyond the US market, Travelzoo members elsewhere also had “high interest” in Caribbean destinations.
“When we asked the UK [members] the Caribbean ranked after the US for top destination outside of Europe. For the Canadian, French and Spanish, the Caribbean islands rank high after the US, Mexico and Costa Rica,” she said.

The survey revealed that Travelzoo members were staying longer in destinations, with many of them especially from Europe planning to stay eight nights or more. “Sixty per cent of US members said they plan to take at least one international trip and 29 per cent plan to take two or more international trips this year. Our Canadian audience responded with similar numbers.

For European members, travel plans are even higher, with members in Germany, France and Spain planning on at least two international trips this year and when they take those trips they plan to stay and play longer. Most members, that is 65 per cent, are planning for stays between eight and 14 nights,” Barrios said.

“We saw little interest for travelling internationally for fewer than five nights, and we definitely see this trend reflected in our recent international viewer content,” she added, while reminding that last year people were planning five-to-seven-night stays. She reported that 87 per cent of members said their disposable income for travel would remain the same or increase this year. This is up from 83 per cent from last year. “This is all good news for tourism boards and great news for resorts in terms of on sight spend,” she said.

Over half of those surveyed said they planned to book international travel at least four months or more in advance, while 17 per cent said they would book when they see “the right offer”. Barrios said Travelzoo recently launched offers for Barbados and other markets that have so far “generated plenty of bookings”.

She said the recent offers have resulted in people booking a longer length of stay and room category upgrades.