All-Inclusive, Luxury, Romance And Family Travel Driving Mexico Sales, Travel Agents Say
by Doug Gollan
Part two of our coverage. Read part one.
Coming off a record year of welcoming 35 million international visitors, Mexico is seeing strong growth in a number of key segments, U.S. and Canadian travel agents report.
Of the 447 travel agents who respondend to a Travel Market Report survey last week, 43% reported increased sales of vacations at all-inclusive resorts, versus just 7% who saw a drop and 49% whose sales held steady. Almost every one of the agents (96%) sold all-inclusive resorts, more than sold any other segment.
Luxury travel is also doing well in Mexico this year, with 36% of agents reporting their luxury bookings have increased. Just 10% said luxury sales are down, and 54% said luxury is steady. Eighty-nine percent of the agents have clients in the luxury segment.
Nearly 34% of respondents to the survey said Honeymoon/Romance travel to Mexico has increased, 9% reported a decrease and 57% said business is about the same. Three in 10 agents (30%) said Family Vacations to Mexico are up, while 8% saw a drop and 62% saw no change. Similarly, in the cruise segment, 32% of agents reported an increase and 9% a decrease. Visits to Mexico by multi-generational family groups from North America are trending upward as well, with 27% of agents reporting increases versus just 9% citing declines.
Destinations Weddings in Mexico continue to be popular; 23% said their destination wedding business has increased and 57% said it is holding steady. But 20% of agents said they saw fewer destinations weddings bound for Mexico, likely a result of continued Zika concerns in this age bracket.
In terms of spending, agents said 40% of their clients spent between $1,000 and $1,500 per person, excluding air; 30% spent between $1,500 and $2,000; and 18% spent more than $2,000. Eleven percent spent less than $1,000.
Where the growth is:
Which segments of their Mexico business are performing better than last year?
1. 43% All-Inclusive
2. 36% Luxury
3. 34% Honeymoon/Romance
4. 32% Cruises
5. 30% Family (Immediate)
6. 27% Family (Multi-gen groups)
7. 23% Destination Weddings
8. 21% Boutique Hotels
9. 17% Culture/Colonial Cities
10. 16% Business Travel
11. 13% Incentives
12. 12% Soft Adventure
13. 11% Meetings
14. 9% Spa/Wellness
15. 6% Golf
Which segments of your Mexico business are performing worse than last year?
1. 20% Destination Weddings
2. 19% Meetings
3. 18% Golf
4. 17% Incentives
5. 16% Business Travel
6. 14% Culture/Colonial Cities
7-tied. 13% Spa/Wellness
7-tied. 13% Boutique Hotels
9. 10% Luxury
10. 10% Soft Adventure
11-tied. 9% Cruise
11-tied. 9% Honeymoon/Romance
11-tied. 9% Family (Multi-gen group)
14. 8% Family (immediate)
15. 7% All-Inclusive
Which segments do you have clients for?
1. 96% All-Inclusive 93% Family (Immediate)
2. 91% Cruise
3. 89% Luxury
4-tied. 85% Multi-generational family groups
4-tied. 85% Honeymoon/Romance
6. 73% Boutique Hotels
7. 68% Soft Adventure
8. 65% Culture/Colonial Cities
9. 63% Destination Weddings
10. 61% Spa/Wellness
11-tied. 46% Golf Vacations
11-tied. 46% Business Travel
13. 43% Incentives
14. 38% Meetings
