Ordinarily, the travel season over the year-end holidays starts on a Friday or Saturday, occurring around the 3rd week of December. This year is no different and it seems the last-minute planners are on the rise. I was always taught to quantify any statement you make using numbers. So here goes… we have 77 days left before the festive travel season starts, and it’s going by quickly.
Since quantifying is like a hobby for me, let me go further. We track the behavior of our travelers’ buying habits looking for a trend in last-minute travel vs planning further out. Now you likely already see a trend with your clients, however when you track this the way we do, what jumps out is how many times the buying habits change. Approximately 9 times in 12 months. Even more so in a year when there is an event such as an election. That means the team at Big Five has gotten good at adapting to your travelers who want to leave next year vs right now. From planning an excursion to Guatemala with only a few weeks’ notice to planning a safari 14 months from now, our specialists know how to move mountains.
This year we are gearing up to move many more due to the last-minute festive requests which have started to increase; and in many cases, though not all, we are finding space. Right around this time, space booked earlier in the year becomes available again. Due to Big Five’s excellent relationships, we usually get first access. Whether that means Tanzania, Egypt, Peru, or Uruguay, we are finding those pockets of space. From private villas in Jose Ignacio, to the boutique hotels in the Sacred Valley, to lesser-known safari camps in the Serengeti, to private dahabiyas in Egypt, the impossible is possible at times.
Enjoy the video, and speaking to the procrastinator in all of us… 77 days and counting.
