Panelists at CruiseWorld presentation on “Selling U.S. Travel” spoke about how events in the U.S. and abroad and changing client tastes are affecting vacations to domestic destinations. Barry Karp, who is the co-owner of shore excursion specialist ShoreTrips said that how the travel tineraries in Maine, Hawaii and especially Alaska has increased with decline in European cruising option. The Baltic region was also down in 2016 which caused the bookings for Alaska go high radically. Dogsled tours, helicopter trips, whale-watching tours have also increased.
Tourists are more interested in white water rafting, glacier hiking and other adventure-oriented excursions. So, they are changing the itineraries which just include visiting the Ketchikan.
Joel Cohen, vice president of New York City Vacation Packages also said that the strength of the U.S. dollar compared with the euro and the currencies of Brazil and the U.K. has led to domestic business become more important. They have started getting contracts in for 2017-18.
Tom Valley, director of national sales for SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, also discussed how his company enjoyed a boost in U.S. business recently and saw a boom in the family travel market.
It seems that the millennials, did not want to see whales in these theatrical shows which forced them to change the itineraries and show plannings.
