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Forbes article: Tauck Sees High Demand For Travel In 2021

JohnS

An article that may be of interest from the Forbes web site.

Tauck Sees High Demand For Travel In 2021

It is somewhat encouraging for us who want to travel this year. I am still concerned about all I am hearing about the new Covid variants that are popping up from South Africa, UK, Brazil and who know where else.

Comments

AlanS

It sure doesn't jive with what is happening and what they told me!

BKMD

Yeah, seems a bit out of touch with reality.
P.S. jibe

Smiling Sam

I don't think it seems out of synch. I think there is high demand for travel in 2021.

High Demand can be quantified in lots of ways that don't actually help a bottom line. Tauck can measure activity on their website and forums as demand for travel that does nothing for their bottom line. People putting their names on Wish Lists, requesting brochures, etc. can all be considered attributes of high demand that don't help the bottom line. There are probably lots of other measures, that don't help financially, that can be considered attributes of high demand.

Unless travel doesn't resume, high demand means nothing.

To put it in terms closer to home. For me there is high demand for Diet Coke, but if they aren't producing/stocking it (due to some shortage) fast enough it means nothing.

There is high demand for being Covid vaccinated, but if they aren't producing/distributing it fast enough and then prioritizing it for a group that you qualify, it means nothing.

Patience, hoping you make it through, until the point that high demand can be satisfied is all that can be done.

Tauck hopes it can survive, economically, until it can satisfy the high travel demand.

People hope they can survive, until they can get vaccinated (and Covid is defeated)

And I hope I can survive without Diet Coke, until the shelves return to their pre-Covid level.

BKMD

Don't know if you're serious with the Diet Coke comment, but I haven't seen any shortages on the shelves.
I've even seen Clorox wipes and Purell brand sanitizer back on the shelves for the first time in about 10 months.
And let's not forget toilet paper

Smiling Sam

Diet Coke, in our neck of Tucson, seems to show up on the store shelves (Safeway, Albertsons, Bashas, Frys, Target, and WalMart) about every 6 weeks (based on completely unscientific sampling from weekly and ad hoc shopping excursions).

BKMD

I usually pick up Diet Coke at Target (a big one with a supermarket in it) or King Soopers (our Krogers brand store). Pardon the double negative, but I've never not seen it there.

Ken from Vegas

It's interesting that the Yellowstone in Winter trip has run this year. That bodes well for domestic trips.

Internationally, it seems the the new virus variants are causing tighter borders. I used to think that getting the vaccine would get you entry. Now I think that someone is going to have to prove that getting the vaccine reduces the risk to others. Either that or the infection rates will have to drop dramatically. Either way I'm less hopeful for my June Ireland trip. Still hoping for Canada in September.

NJcolleen

From the Forbes article it looks like you need to have a negative Covid test 5 days prior to your tour departure.
Does being vaccinated count for anything? Another inconvenience in my opinion.

British

Most are saying that you still have to be Covid tested, there is no evidence as yet that you can’t have asymptotic Covid even when vaccinated. When I read the five day Covid requirement, that was news to me. I just don’t recall reading it on the Tauck web pages. And since the airlines require testing 72 hours before a flight , what are we to do? Are Tauck implying that if we are positive after the five days are passed, we won’t get any sort of refund on the tour?

Smiling Sam

NJcolleen -

For anyone interested in seeing the current restrictions for flying to/from a location, near the bottom of the AA home page, they have a link that does a good job at explaining all of the restrictions for both heading from someplace and then returning home from the place.

As an example, I entered Tucson and Montego Bay into the AA travel restrictions interface. It returns the requirements to board the plane, fly to, enter Jamaica, and for your stay while in Jamaica. After that it provides the restrictions in reverse - the requirements to board the plane in Jamaica, fly to the US, enter the US, and for the first one/two weeks when back in the US.

AlanS

My comment above that "it sure doesn't jive with what is happening and what they told me" mainly refers to what Guest Relations and several Reservations Sales Agents told terrilynn and me about the cancellation of most 2021 XMAS Markets cruises.

In the article, Ms Tombaugh said demand is high. I totally agree and think that was evident because, despite COVID, 2021 XMAS Mkts cruises have been mostly sold out for months. The Rhine River ones incorrectly or artificially(?) all show completely sold out now because, even thoughTauck cancelled them, they left them on the website. Evidently the status was overridden or posted in error. Ms Tombaugh says "demand is high," yet we were told on the phone that they weren't selling well so Tauck decided to release the dates back to Scylla (for German charters?).

I know it is just a forecast and perhaps wishful thinking, but what Ms Tombaugh said about the COVID recovery still contradicts what we were told and the actions taken by Tauck.

"Right now, our eyes are on Q2, because we anticipate that most of our guests will be vaccinated and borders will be opening by late spring or early summer."
"In Q2, we’re expanding our domestic operations and adding more international destinations."
"By Q3, we’re operating at a level close to “normal” .

XMAS Mkts cruises occur at the END of Q4!!!!!

All I can say is this interview looks like it was done several months ago, especially when she talks about the vaccine rollout, either that or Ms Tombaugh is looking through rose colored glasses. Ms Tombaugh got her MBA from Harvard, started working for Tauck in 2001 and was promoted in 2011 to the position of President, the first non-Tauck family member to hold that position. Bio link

British

We got a call from Tauck about our original Singapore Bali tour. They asked us to change date because it was not selling well. They offered us a date that we knew was running into rainy season, but we took it as we were so eager to go (That trip was then cancelled due to a Covid) They never offered us a choice of other dates. We then found out that someone we met on another tour had gotten a call about their Singapore tour, they were asked to change it, and given a date that would have appealed much more to us. We were a little disappointed about that. We were really given the impressive by the agent that the itinerary was not selling well and we thought they would not resurrect the tour the following year. But they did and judging by the forum, is popular. Anyway, those cancelled dates continued to say sold out.
Our Rwanda tour showed sold out, but it wasn’t.As far as I can see, that was not due to last minute cancellations.
Maybe Tauck just isn’t good about updating their website, that seems to have been our impression for a long time.

Claudia Sails

Kind of freaked yesterday when I was trying to look up some information on river cruises and NONE of the listings on the web site had the section listing exact dates. You could read about the cruise and the general info on the ship, but could not find out dates or even years. Seems back to normal thing morning so maybe was just a glitch in the website. Made me wonder if they were in a battle with Scylla. Would be very sad if they could no longer offer river cruises.

Kathy M

In MA we have one congressman and one congresswoman who have received both shots of the vaccine and have since tested positive. They are both asymptomatic and were tested because members of their staffs tested positive. One had been tested before he want to DC for the inauguration and had tested negative at that time. This follows the discussion that you can still get the virus after getting both shots. The vaccine would likely prevent you from showing symptoms or getting a bad case of the virus but could not promise that you did not have it.

Since this is happening, people who had the vaccine will need to be tested as well as those who had not yet received the vaccine. Mask wearing will also be an issue since you could be a carrier.