Rest Easy, Travel Advisors — Cruises Are Recession Resistant: World Travel Holdings Co-CEO
Skift Take
Executives at World Travel Holdings, a major cruise distributor, are confident that cruises will only grow in importance to travel advisors, pointing to consumer trends and changing demographics. Given the value cruises provide, the executives also believe they are the most recession-proof form of travel.
Cruises, which have become the mainstay for many travel agencies over the past 20 years, will only continue to gain momentum as a revenue source for travel advisors over the next decade.
[caption id="attachment_370372" align="alignright" width="200"] World Travel Holdings Jeff Tolkin, co-chairman and CEO (right) and Brad Tolkin, co-chairman and CEO. Photo: World Travel Holdings[/caption]
That’s the assertion of Jeff Tolkin, co-chairman and CEO of World Travel Holdings, which calls itself the largest cruise travel agency in the United States. It’s also one of the nation’s largest offline and online travel companies, with a portfolio of 35 brands that include the travel agency franchises CruiseOne and Dream Vacations, host agency Cruises, Inc., online sellers Cruises.com and CheapCruises, villa provider Villas of Distinction, and resort day-pass distributor Resort for a Day.
Brothers Jeff and co-CEO Brad Tolkin, former owners of the wholesaler Travel Impressions, founded World Travel Holdings in 2005, steadily launching new brands and acquiring others over the years. The Tolkins in 2008 established World Travel Holdings UK, which owns the UK-based cruise agencies Cruise 118, Six Star Cruises, and River Voyages. Rising to number 17 on the Travel Weekly Power List this year, World Travel Holdings posted $1.34 billion in 2018 sales.
Jeff Tolkin, along with Debbie Fiorino, chief operating officer and senior vice president of owned brands, and Jennifer Gasser, senior vice president of partner brands, sat down with Skift to discuss the outlook for cruise sales as well as the growing scope of World
