This year has been a roller-coaster ride for many travel agencies navigating widespread economic uncertainty, federal government actions and perceptions abroad. And budget-conscious clients seem to be the most affected.
The up-and-down ride is continuing into the third quarter, according to a new survey of Travel Weekly readers, which found that many respondents are facing declining bookings and have clients who are more price-sensitive, less willing to book travel and concerned about the perception of Americans abroad.
Like the surveys Travel Weekly conducted in March and May, the latest poll, fielded in July and August, found that advisor responses ran the gamut, from sharp declines to booms in business. One advisor in Statesville, N.C., for instance, said business is down 31% compared to the year prior. But Jani Miller of Central Travel in Toledo, Ohio, said gross sales were up 7% year over year: "People have money and they are spending it!"
The majority of survey respondents, 52.4%, reported experiencing slight or significant decreases in bookings, while 32.1% reported slight or significant increases. Most of the remainder saw no changes (13.7%).
Comparatively, in a May survey, 57.7% of respondents said they experienced slight or significant decreases, while 31.3% experienced slight or significant increases, with most of the remainder seeing no changes (10%).
In comments, respondents indicated that federal government actions, ranging from economic impacts to immigration concerns to changing tariffs, have an impact on travel.
"It takes time for a huge ship to turn -- and the USA is a huge ship," said Phillip Archer of Roaming Richly Travel in Belmont, Calif. "My fear as a small-business owner is that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg at the moment.
While the U.S. economy is charging forward, we are seeing signs of issues, and I don't think most of us have any confidence that we have leadership in place to successfully mitigate those changes."
According to respondents, the hardest-hit clients are those with modest budgets.
"People are tightening up their finances because of the uncertainty and the looming recession everyone keeps talking about," said Rebecca Schwinn with Wanderland Escapes in Holiday, Fla. "Prices are soaring, and wages are not keeping up. So those who aren't luxury clients are being forced to take smaller vacations or none at all. I help a lot of lower-budget clients, so it's impacting my sales a lot."
Another advisor, based in Summit, N.J., agreed: "Wealthy customers are still traveling. Middle-income customers are impacted by the cost increases."
A Minneapolis-based advisor who specializes in Africa safaris had similar observations. "Midrange travelers seem to be much more affected by financial uncertainty, safety concerns and perceptions of Americans," the advisor said, adding that those travelers were also opting for destinations they perceive as safer, like Europe.
Separate data from Virtuoso also indicates that upscale travelers are insulated from similar problems. Virtuoso members' leisure sales for the first half of the year are up 12%, executives said during Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas.
"I think that, in general, high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth clients know what they want to do, and they're going to do it no matter what," said executive vice president David Kolner.
More than half of those surveyed by Travel Weekly (58.3%) said clients' willingness to book due to the economic climate and consumer confidence has slightly or significantly decreased. One-quarter said that willingness is unchanged. This is largely in line with May's survey.
Price sensitivity has moderated some since then: Half (50.6%) of the respondents this summer said clients are expressing slightly more price sensitivity compared to last year, while 16.1% are significantly more sensitive and only 1.2% are less sensitive. In May, 21.4% reported significantly more sensitive clients, 41.3% reported slightly more sensitive clients and 2.1% reported less price sensitivity.
Most respondents (65.1%) said clients are concerned about how they will be received in other countries as Americans, up several points from May (61%).
Booking windows have compressed this year, according to the survey.
Right now, the most common booking windows are one to three months (29.4%), four to six months (28.1%) and seven to 12 months (27.5%). Comparatively, advisors said that at this time last year, the most common booking window was seven to 12 months (45.8%), followed by four to six months (36%) and one to three months (8.5%).
"I am shocked at the number of requests I have had for Europe for August 2025 in June and July of this year," said Archer. "It is nuts."
Tamara Jacobs of Destinations by Tamara in Marietta, Ga., said clients are currently asking for travel to Japan for October to December, trips usually planned much further ahead.
Travel Weekly's survey was fielded online and drew more than 230 respondents.
Rebecca Tobin contributed to this story.