Bucket List Travel Barometer: Intimate Booking Survey Reveals America's Top Wants in Travel Experiences

Tours.com's Travel-Intel Looks at the Booking Numbers to Find Out What Travelers Truly Want


SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - July 06, 2015) - Bucket list travel ideas are in easy supply. But knowing what travel experiences American travelers truly want? That's best left to the experts with the booking numbers. Virtuoso, an exclusive network of luxury travel agents, took the pulse of the country's most avid and sophisticated travelers and came up with the definitive list -- bucket list, that is, for today's active traveler.

While the tally looked more to experiences that travelers want, rather than places they want to go, the winning wishes will not surprise. What does surprise, however, is Virtuoso's nomination list for the top hotels this year -- winner to be announced later in the summer with a dinner and a drum roll. On the bucket list for best hotel stays in 2015?

  • Ashford Castle, County Mayo, Galway, Ireland
  • The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, India
  • Finca Cortesin Hotel, Golf & Spa, Andalucia, Spain
  • Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin, Germany
  • One&Only Palmilla, San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico

Details of Virtuoso's bucket list travel findings are reported in this week's Travel-Intel, published by Travel-Intel. Travel-Intel is a publication that goes out weekly to more than 103,000 sellers of travel. It is also posted online at Tours.com. The publication reports from travel conferences and expos, as well as popular hotels, exotic resorts, cruise ships and ports, and destinations near and far with stories that feature the latest intel on travel. Current features and archives can be viewed at Travel-Intel.

This week's issue also features a timely article about the Lanesborough, London's latest hotel, opening this month after an extensive renovation that left the 282-year-old Hyde Park property closed for two years. The Lanesborough is a member of the Oetker Collection and also part of the exclusive Kurtz-Ahlers collection of resorts and specialty travel.

Travel-Intel also looks at Viking River Cruises, which is now offering Viking Ocean Cruises and transferring some of the cultured and refined luxury vessel experience they offer along iconic riverways in Europe to those who want what a 930-passenger boutique and upscale ocean liner can offer. The Viking Star launched in April and the company will welcome two sister ships over the next two years, along with a variety of itineraries in Europe.

In added news and updates on Travel-Intel, the publication covered the launch of Ethiopian Airways and its new, three-times-weekly flight from Los Angeles, non-stop to Dublin, Ireland and onto Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. It is the only LAX-DUB nonstop and offers the rare opportunity for travelers to enjoy a prolonged stay-over in Dublin, should they choose, while flying between the U.S. and African continents.

Finally, Travel-Intel, which has managed much in-depth reporting on the Spaceport America project in New Mexico, looks at the much anticipated opening of Spaceport America in recent days -- what visitors can see and do there and how to arrange a tour of the country's first commercial spaceport.

"Travel-Intel keeps tabs on travel trends -- what's changing, what's new - so that travel agents and those planning to travel can make better decisions for their budget and time," says Lark Gould, content director for Travel-Intel and Tours.com. "We do the news reporting and news collecting and keep the information flowing every week through Travel-Intel."

As a veteran travel journalist who has been covering the travel industry for more than 20 years, Gould puts her incisive perspective into the weekly publication, with features and news updates, and also "packages" issues that detail great travel deals to be found at hotels and resort locations worldwide. Travel-Intel can be viewed as a stand-alone site on Tours.com. Gould publishes travel columns and stories for Barclay's Travel Community, the Washington Times, Business Travel Executive, and Business Traveler USA, among other publications.

About Tours.com: Since 1995 The Only WorldWide Directory of Tours and Vacations. The most comprehensive tour and travel directory worldwide Tours.com is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Tours.com features a deep & searchable database of tour companies according to Country, US State and/or Activity. It is also a one-stop resource for all major travel categories such as Visa & Passport, Ground Transportation, Airlines and Private Jet Services, Cruise Ships, Yachts & Ferries, Railroad Vacations etc. plus Travel Specialists search with in-depth knowledge in their chosen areas. For local sightseeing information in cities & towns around the world, companion site, Sightseeing.com, is the resource.

Tours.com is a now an Official Partner America Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and proudly wears its logo.

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Contact Information:

Tours.com Press Contact:
Maria Polk
maria@tours.com
http://www.tours.com

Lark Gould, Content Director, Travel-Intel & Tours.com