The season 2012 – 2013 is just ended and as every year it is very important to analyze the market trends to understand how we can offer a product that suits the demands of our consumers. Travel from the North American market has seen fluctuations due to a mix of global political and economic instability and the soaring prices of energy resulting in higher travel costs.
Our statistics on the Italy Vacations booked by the Road to Travel customers, show that after a slow down of bookings in the first quarter, the situation stabilized and we were able to recoup some of the loss.
A resulting trend of the general slow down of the travel market since the financial crisis of 2008 has been in the length of the Italian tours. This year the average length of a tour has decreased from 11 to 10 days. Fortunately there are also some good news for the tour operators, the last season got a 6% increase in spending per trip and a 7.5% rise in average spending per night (due to both shorter average trips and the increase of the hotel prices).
Regarding the most visited Italian cities the last research confirms that the top 4 most visited cities by our customers have been in order: Rome, Venice, Florence and Sorrento.
Rome and Sorrento have an average stay of 3 overnights, while Venice and Florence have an average stay of 2 overnight. The trend in spending per overnight per person reflects the above data.
It is difficult to predict for 2014 as another trend that has changed is the advance booking time. Before 2008 clients booked well in advance sometimes one year to a year and half prior to their trips. Now the trend is to book closer to the date of departure. On average clients book about three months in advance.
If you are planning Italy vacations in 2014 take advantage of our early booking and winter specials and start dreaming about your trip now !
