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Interest in ‘bucket list trips’ surges as clients look to make up for lost time, and maybe spend some of their pandemic savings By Kathryn Folliott TORONTO — The term ‘revenge travel’ hasn’t taken off in Canada quite like it has in the U.S. But the desire for all-out, no-holdsbarred, trips of a lifetime is just as strong this side of the border, and maybe more, as Canadians endure some of the longest stretches of COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions of any country in the world. Grand tours of Europe. Cruises of every duration and destination, and especially world cruises, which are flying off the proverbial shelves like never before. So-called ‘bucket list trips’ have been around for years but inquiries and bookings have been increasing as clients look to recoup their vacation time losses, and maybe spend some pandemic savings, after a year and a half of COVID-19. But the high tide isn’t raising all boats. Many travellers continue to shy away from long-haul trip bookings, and that’s reining in some bucket list dreams. There’s still a resistance to sitting on a plane for hours at a time, no matter what the airlines do to battle misconceptions about COVID safety onboard their aircraft. In this latest edition of Travelweek’s ongoing series of travel trends coming out of the pandemic, we speak to a tour operator and a travel agent about bucket list trip bookings. We also hear from a luxury cruise line that just had its most successful pre-sale in its history for its brand new 139-day world cruise. FIRDOSH BULSARA, VICTOURS Firdosh Bulsara, General Manager, Product & Marketing for Victours International, pulls no punches when asked about booking trends. “I am going to tell you exactly as it stands,” says Bulsara. “At the moment, consumer confidence in long-haul travel has not grown to the level that we anticipated. Albeit I have several inquiries for African safaris, travel to Europe and even a couple of golf groups to Asia, travellers are definitely in a waitand-watch mode as far as deposit and other payments are concerned.”
While Victours is best known for its Europe product, Bulsara’s arrival at the company several years ago, and his expertise in destinations including Africa and India, helped solidify the company’s expansion into longer-haul product.
“Each booking has a unique pattern. The days of regular terms & conditions and payment deadlines are long gone.” “I have booked and confirmed travel for all our clients who were to depart in 2020 but couldn’t. The good part (business-wise) is that these clients did not cancel outright but have waited patiently to travel and will do so from late 2022 and also into 2023,” he says. Here’s some more good news from Bulsara: bookings have come in for both Groups (another strong trend coming out of the pandemic) and FIT, for 2022, for Europe and for Africa.
With those bookings, staying nimble is crucial, so flexible booking and deposit terms are the default, he adds. “Some of them with a nominal deposit amount, at times, not due until 60-days out and with final-payment dates no earlier than 30 days prior to departure, some even 21 days prior. We have learned to build bookings based on the different requirements as stipulated by our various suppliers. Hence, in these days of post-COVID travel, each booking has a unique pattern. The days of regular terms & conditions and payment deadlines are long gone,” says Bulsara. While long-haul travel has been slow to recover, there’s a “definite momentum towards high-end travel. We have even had private jet travel for families on short-haul holidays!” He adds: “Not every one of our clients is looking to ‘splash’ on trips, but we are gradually succeeding in making agents realize the value of safer and healthier travel options which obviously come with a price tag. So far the response has been encouraging.” We asked Bulsara if he had any advice for agents with clients whose bucket list includes a trip of a lifetime September 9, 2021 | TRAVELWEEK | 3
