Question of the Month: Is the Economy Affecting 2009 Tour Sales?
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| Our 2-week Germany, Austria & Switzerland tours are filling like beer steins at Oktoberfest. |
The state of the economy could certainly use some improving. And it's true that no one HAS to take a vacation in Europe next year. But what we're seeing, so far, is that lots of people really WANT to go — and they are reserving 2009 tour seats at a healthy clip.
We began taking reservations for our 2009 tour season a month ago. Since then, we've booked 955 seats, compared with 938 during the same period last year (about a 2% increase). Half of our 2009 reservations are coming from repeat customers.
Our best-sellers (with 40+ seats booked) are St. Petersburg, Tallinn & Helsinki, followed by Turkey, Paris & the Heart of France, the Adriatic, Germany, Austria & Switzerland, Venice, Florence & Rome, and Athens & the Heart of Greece.
Ideally we'd like to see a little more growth, but given how the rest of the industry is doing, keeping about even with last year is a very nice place to be.
We are really excited about our better-than-ever tour lineup for 2009. And, as always, we are having such a good time doing what we do. We'd love to have you join us!