U.S. Election Year Aside, Travel Advisor Execs Optimistic About 2020
Photo Credit: Sen. Elizabeth Warren on stage Saturday, Jan. 5, during her first trip to Des Moines, Iowa, after launching an exploratory committee for 2020. Travel advisor executives are cautiously optimistic that 2020 will not mirror any downturns seen in prior election years. Flickr / Joe Crimmings
Skift Take
The adage that U.S. presidential election years are bad for business may or may not hold true for 2020. Savvy travel advisors, however, may want to put extra effort into keeping clients confident and enthusiastic about upcoming travel plans.
There’s an old adage — and some data to support it — that U.S. presidential election years put a damper on leisure travel sales. With 2020 promising to be an especially bumpy ride through political division and uncertainty, could that hold true for the year ahead?
To get some perspective, Skift spoke to a variety of leading players in the retail travel industry, most of whom are cautiously optimistic that 2020 will not mirror any downturns seen in prior election years.
Election Year Impact
A survey released by Virtuoso earlier this year, which examined yearly sales trends among the consortium’s membership of luxury-focused travel advisors, reported that travel sales grew on average by 14.3 percent in the years before the last three presidential elections: 2007, 2011, and 2015.
By contrast, travel sales only grew on average by 2.9 percent during the election years of 2008, 2012, and 2016. The survey showed that even Virtuoso travel agencies based outside the U.S. may hav
