Palma.More than half of travel agents believe the outlook for selling holidays in 2013 is good or very strong, a new poll out yesterday shows.
Almost 60% feel positive about forward bookings, and they are most confident about booking all-inclusive holidays, followed by cruises.
Despite the Costa Concordia disaster in January, which claimed 32 lives, concerns on safety are not proving to be as big as of a challenge as they were six months ago.
A third of agents (33%) said safety was one of the biggest challenges facing the cruise sector at the moment 20% less than in May.
When agents were asked about discounting in the cruise sector, nearly half said that while there was a lot of discounting the situation had improved. A further 18% believed that there was not too much discounting in the cruise market.
The nationwide poll found that 82% of agents feel positive about trade during 2012 compared to 70% when the last travel agent Mood Index' was carried out by Carnival Cruise Lines.
Three quarters of agents hit their sales targets during the second and third quarters of this year.
This was more than predicted in May when only half felt confident about reaching their goals.
Almost a third of agents said that Greece and the Balearics were two of the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers.
Emerging holiday destinations such as Croatia (17.1%) and Mexico (23.7%) also proved to be popular, together with Italy (18.4%) and Spain (53.9%).
One in five agents said that the UK was one of the most popular destinations, compared to 15% in May, reflecting interest in the London Olympics.
Consumers least affected by the struggling economy mature couples are the holidaymakers making travel agents happy by booking the most trips (67%), the study shows.
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