Flash sales are becoming mainstream for travel today. The YPartnership bulletin reports that a growing percentage of American leisure travelers are taking last minute vacations. The reason: the frenetic pace of contemporary life. “Simply coordinating schedules to get time away from work represents a greater obstacle than the actual cost of the trip for many travelers today,” says US travel guru Peter Yesawich. He himself is surprised that research now shows that three out of every 10 Americans actually took a last minute trip last year, and those trips were planned an average of just six days prior to departure.
He says that travel marketers are reaching out to travelers with impulsive offers as suppliers try to liquidate what would otherwise be unsold inventory. He is also surprised to find that one out of seven recipients of unsolicited emails reports purchasing a travel service as a result. “Yes, one might expect the recipients of these offers to book a weekend flight or hotel room on a whim, but a complete vacation package (38%) or a cruise (21%)? Unprecedented.”
Another trend he mentions is that one out of four leisure travelers took a vacation in their local area as an alternative to vacationing in a destination that would have required more extensive travel during the past year. He concludes that this type of vacation appears to be “another manifestation of the trend toward more impulsive vacation behavior.”