According to research from Avail, Gen Z and Millennials lead the way when it comes to making plans in the near future to travel more (or the same amount) as they did pre-pandemic. Knowing this, it makes sense why you'd work to target this specific demographic of younger travelers, the majority of which are eager to explore all corners of the world.

I read Jan Carlzon's book, Moments of Truth, many years ago. It was one of the most powerful customer service and experience books at the time, and the content aligned perfectly with my idea of creating Moments of Magic for our customers. Carlzon's definition of the Moment of Truth was:

Anytime a customer comes into contact with a business, however remote, they have an opportunity to form an impression.

Getting your first negative review feels a bit like having an unexpected fall—it takes you by surprise, stings pretty bad and take a hot minute for (our egos, in this case) to heal. And though garnering negative reviews of any kind are never the desired outcome, how you respond to them could steer you in a more positive direction and might even change the mind of the unhappy client in question.

There are countless benefits to being and having a mentor, and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in the travel industry who hasn't been impacted by mentorship in some way. By building this relationship, both mentor and mentee benefit from lifelong learning, an expansion of their professional networks and the development of more fulfilling careers.

People across all industries are setting their sights on expanding their businesses or pivoting to offer something new to match our ever-changing world. Group travel professionals are no exception! One such area of expansion worth considering is student travel, as the market is seeing fast-moving recovery and schools and educators are itching to get students back out on the road.