The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) announced London and Rome as the two most popular summer destinations booked by ASTA travel agents internationally for travel this summer, according to ASTA’s eleventh annual Hot Spots for Summer survey. London received a 9 percent share of votes followed by Rome with an 8 percent share.
ASTA’s 2010 Summer Hot Spots Survey Reveals Top 10 Choices
The recently released ASTA Travel Agency Business Trends survey has found that consumer interest in cruises remains for high for the upcoming winter and spring travel seasons, with the Caribbean and Mexico topping the destination charts for winter travel and spring finding U.S. travelers heading to the Caribbean and Europe.
ASTA and Best Western have partnered to bolster social media efforts to recruit more young professionals into the travel industry. ASTA will launch its Interactive Agency Web Apps Forum (Apps Forum) later this year with sponsorship support from Best Western.
ASTA released the results of its first Marketing & Customer Retention survey, a study designed to help travel agent members benchmark their marketing efforts and determine how to best promote their agencies.
Among the key findings was the fact that travel agents accounted for 69 percent of tour operator sales in 2008 and that more than a third of tour operators expect their distribution through travel agent to increase in the future.
ASTA's 2009 Summer Hot Spots Survey Reveals Top 10 Choices
Repeats call for President Obama to support Americans' freedom to travel
The study, the only one of its kind that specifically looks at Internet usage, Web 2.0 marketing, and Web site development from an agency point of view, found that while agents are comfortable utilizing traditional forms of Web marketing, there is still room for improvement when it comes to Web 2.0.
Since 1999, the percentage of agencies that collect any type of services fee has increased steadily and now has plateaued in the mid-90 percent range. A key finding of the survey is the continued expansion of service fees collected beyond just those for air bookings.