Affluence Is Fueling Demand for Advisors to Plan Milestone Group Travel
Photo Credit: Relais & Chateaux 60th Anniversary Guest Chef Dinner Launch at Consulate General of France on October 1, 2014, in New York City. Travel advisors are increasingly booking groups for milestone celebrations. Relais & Châteaux
Skift Take
The trend for groups of family and friends to celebrate birthdays and other milestones with travel is growing in scope. It's a likely niche for many travel advisors to pursue.
Celebration travel — trips where groups of family or friends gather to mark a significant birthday, anniversary, or other milestone — is not only a fast-growing niche but one where travel advisors can strengthen bonds with clients and hotels, boost profitability, and put creativity to the test.
While weddings are most commonly associated with celebration travel, countless other types of events are transforming the field, said Jennifer Doncsecz, a longtime destination wedding specialist and owner of VIP Vacations. “We’ve seen a huge growth in the past two years of groups that are not destination wedding related,” she said. “There are bachelorette groups, big milestone birthday groups, family reunions, high school or college reunions, sports and hobby enthusiasts, leadership retreats. It can also be a group of family and friends that traveled to a destination wedding and just want to continue traveling together.”
Jack Ezon, owner of Embark, a New York agency that focu
