Who agents voted as their fave airlines, cruises & products in 2017

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By Hannah Edensor


While travel trade sites might be flooded with product rankings and ‘best of’ lists, there’s no greater way to assess what’s hot in the travel industry right now than to go straight to the source: you guys!

At the end of 2017, you might recall us asking about your opinions in our annual survey, and now we’ve got stacks of results to give us a good idea of what agents are currently loving.

From favourite cruise lines and fresh off the press product offerings, to best airlines and hotels of choice, this survey covered it all.

So enjoy our wrap-up – or should we say your wrap-up – of the hottest products on the shelf in 2017, according to travel agents everywhere.

The hottest destination for travellers in 2018

So just what exactly are travellers looking for in their 2018 bookings? And where are they going? These were some of our first questions for you all.

And according to the stats, here’s where your clients are headed:

Tied in first place was North America and Western Europe, pulling 33.3 per cent of the votes.

The UK followed with 23.8 per cent of votes, then South America and Eastern Europe with 19 per cent of the votes each.

Asia and Africa came in at #4, with Pacific Islands and Central America pulling just 9.5 per cent of votes, followed by Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

What were your favourite airlines in 2017?

Only seven of the world’s airlines got mentioned in our survey of favourite airlines, and here’s the breakdown of your faves, in order of preference:

  1. Air New Zealand
  2. Qantas & Qatar Airways (tied)
  3. Emirates
  4. Etihad
  5. Cathay Pacific & Virgin Australia (tied)

Who was your favourite cruise line in 2017?

In the cruising stakes, your faves were well varied, with another draw, this time for first place, in the top placeholders:

  1. P&O Cruise Lines & Royal Caribbean (tied)
  2. Princess Cruises
  3. Holland America Line
  4. Oceania Cruises
  5. Carnival
  6. Crystal
  7. Celebrity
  8. Travelmarvel

And what about the wholesalers?

What a diverse bunch of tour companies we have here, including an OTA (gasp!):

  1. Excite Holidays
  2. Scenic & (interestingly) Expedia (tied)
  3. Intrepid
  4. Globus
  5. Bench
  6. Qantas Holidaus
  7. Room Res
  8. Trafalgar
  9. Momento
  10. Infinity
  11. Wide Eyed Tours
  12. Air Tickets
  13. Holidays on Location
  14. Ominiche

And we can’t forget your favourite 2017 hotels

In the top rated of the hotels, there was so much diversity, and plenty of cool personal choices. Here are some of the top faves, with a particular nod to ol’ Singapore:

  1. Crown Towers Perth
  2. Atlantic The Palm
  3. Surfjack Honolulu
  4. Marina Bay Sands
  5. Singapore Swissotel Stamford
  6. Grand Pacific Singapore
  7. Alina
  8. Ritz Carlton, Fort Lauderdale
  9. Cable Beach Resort, Broome
  10. Hotel White Rome
  11. The Jeremy Hotel West Hollywood
  12. Isles of Glencoe in Scotland
  13. Howard Johnson Anaheim

And finally – your all-time, overall FAVOURITE thing about 2017 in the travel product area!

U by Uniworld came in with the most votes overall, with plenty of love for this brand new under 45s river cruise option, followed by the majestic Ovation of the Seas, and Qatar Airways coming in third.

Check out some of the other comments made:

  • The new get luxe packages put together by Escape Travel/FCTG
  • Surfjack Honolulu
  • Sofitel Sydney
  • Atlantis!
  • “After having a few years out of Travel and only moving to Oz a few years ago, it been great to see how Australians like to travel. So it’s been a whole new experience.”

Stay tuned for more survey industry opinion reveals in the coming days, including what your LEAST FAVOURITE things were too! It’s sure been one heck of a survey so far.

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