The travel trade is driven by travel companies and travellers. It is a fact that travel companies raise prices, because they want to achieve the best possible result from the economic point of view, while travellers try to create favourable conditions with the best prices in order to travel more. Whenever there is a conflict of interest between them.
On April 8 this year a total solar eclipse 115 miles across will pass over Mexico, the United States and Canada, and the sky will temporarily darken as if it were night-time. Given there’s no further total eclipses in the US until 2033, this is a rare and spectacular event likely to create an influx of travel to the region in the days beforehand. This will be even more unique considering its location, spanning across many of the world’s major tourism destinations.
Some reports suggest this could be the most watched celestial event ever, crossing 15 states in the US alone. As a result, many eclipse-related excursions are already booked up and hotels in the viewing zone are in high demand.
Civitatis, an online platform for Spanish-speaking booking activities, day trips and guided tours, refers that competition for eclipse-related excursions will be high from both domestic and international travellers. “Whilst late in 2023 US outbound international travel grew over domestic, as people returned to travelling aboard after Covid, this event clearly is likely to turn the tide. Because of the eclipse, new places and new locations are being promoted that were not the typical places visitors would visit. This needs travel agencies informed so that this phenomenon can increase the demand of the travel trade.
One of Latin America’s biggest global distribution companies, PriceTravel Holding, has also noticed an uptick in demand for the major tourism destinations that fall within the path of the eclipse. Travel sellers everywhere should note that the total eclipse happens over the Easter holidays for many parts of the world, which is a typical time for families to take longer holidays so, it’s a good time to promote products at families. The marketing can be done for either America or Europe and this phenomenon will help this application to succeed”.
Such a big influx of visitors who might never have come otherwise nor ever return again could have an unusual and potentially negative impact when it comes to online reviews, warns Jose Arozarena from TourReview, a platform for tours & activities providers to manage their online reviews.” Destinations and tourism service providers in general need to realise that over-tourism in a particular place at a particular time can cause negative impacts, dissatisfaction from travellers and negative reviews on online platforms such as TripAdvisor. These occurrences need to be anticipated and prevented, as it is important that travellers are properly informed about the place they are visiting and the phenomenon they will see. It is also crucial that there is no excessive price increase due to the phenomenon that would otherwise not exist.
Janis Dzenis from US focused travel comparison website WayAway, which helps travellers to find the best discounts online, offers some advice for travel companies considering how to respond: “It might seem counter-intuitive to incentivize bookings and offer group discounts at eclipse locations, as they are already in high demand it would seem. However, attractively-packaged offers can encourage travelers to secure their spots early and even bring along extra family and friends. Such discounts can also create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, driving more bookings. On the flipside, the eclipse might present the opportunity for travel business to promote bargains elsewhere in the world; those who are not bothered about seeing the eclipse, or simply don’t have the cash, might be susceptible cheaper travel to other destinations struggling to gain their slice of Easter holiday tourists.”
Finally, more on the topic of business travel, Traxo, which specialises in aggregating traveller booking data from all booking channels, warns the event may lead to duty of care issues for corporations. ”Corporates should make sure they have a way to see bookings across all sources to provide proper duty of care and address non-compliant bookings. Already 40% of travel bookings are made outside of company tools, making it difficult for companies to know where their employees are”.
