“2020 started off with just incredible promise,” Misty Belles, Virtuoso managing director, global public relations, said during a press event as part of the luxury travel network’s virtual Virtuoso Travel Week. “We were seeing growth in all sectors.” Air, hotel, cruise and on-site bookings were all showing double-digit growth. In January, polling of its agencies showed plenty of optimism, with 84 percent saying they expected higher sales in 2020 than 2019.

“2020 started off with just incredible promise,” Misty Belles, Virtuoso managing director, global public relations, said during a press event as part of the luxury travel network’s virtual Virtuoso Travel Week. “We were seeing growth in all sectors.” Air, hotel, cruise and on-site bookings were all showing double-digit growth. In January, polling of its agencies showed plenty of optimism, with 84 percent saying they expected higher sales in 2020 than 2019.

But, as we all know, COVID-19 (coronavirus) became a global pandemic and the numbers got worse. From March through July, Virtuoso bookings were down nearly 80 percent or more each month, with April being the worst month. From May on, there has been a small recovery.

So, what are the network’s advisors saying? “Almost universally, they say that now is the opportunity to reimagine what we’re seeing in the industry,” Belles said. More than half of all advisors (53 percent) chose this as their top pick regarding ‘which statements best describe your attitude about the travel industry right now?’ A similar 54 percent of U.S. and Canadian advisors picked this. Forty-three percent of U.S. and Canadian advisors say they are very concerned about the future and that recovery will be slow. Forty percent said this crisis will forever change how consumers travel. Three percent of all advisors said “the worst is behind us.”