Rest Easy, Travel Advisors — Cruises Are Recession Resistant: World Travel Holdings Co-CEO
Photo Credit: Jeff Tolkin, co-chairman and CEO of World Travel Holdings, asserts that cruises will gain momentum as a revenue source for travel advisors over the next decade. Shown here is Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas in Las Palmas. Flickr / El Coleccionista de Instantes Fotografía
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 W
