Travel 2016: Luxury Travelers Looking for Adventure Beyond the Bucket List

New Survey Polls Luxury Travel Advisors to Find out What Travelers Really Want -- and What They Are Buying


SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - November 19, 2015) - Travelers who want -- and can have -- their must-do travel adventures are opting more and more for exotic destinations and places that "push the boundaries."

That is the determination of a new poll this month by Virtuoso, a network of travel advisors whose clients make up the top rungs of the economic ladder in the U.S. While travelers still want to create memorable experiences, especially with multi-generations of family, they also want to go for the brass ring in travel, whether that means sailing to far flung islands in the Pacific or a heading off on safari in Africa with the grandchildren.

The report is featured as one of a bounty of new stories in the latest issue of Tours.com's Travel-Intel, a weekly publication sent to 103,000 travel agents and posted on Tours.com.

Included in this story line-up is an interview with noted Twitter "cruise guru," David Yeskel, who offers advice about how to determine the right ship fit when considering a pricey cruise vacation. The piece also lists the three top cruise lines according to various categories, including value and romance.

Adding to the cruise news is an interview this week with Viking River Cruises' Senior Vice President Richard Marnell, who looks at the top picks in river cruising for vacation-starved travelers, including the season's Christmas markets in Europe and exotic sailings down the Irrawaddy in Myanmar.

For travelers eyeing the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, Travel-Intel features a look at Pikaia Resort, a fully-inclusive luxury stay on Santa Cruz Island that is completely eco-friendly amid colonies of Galapagos Tortoise and rare seal and bird wildlife while providing a variety of uber-luxe resort comforts and amenities. The resort is a member of the exclusive Kurtz-Ahlers collection of luxury hotels, resorts and destination specialists.

For travelers who regularly head to Hawaii, Travel-Intel features a look at where to find Japan -- in monuments, in temples, in foods and farms. Hawaii is replete with Japanese culture throughout the islands.

Finally, Sonoma County is in full bloom with a variety of wine trails, tours, parks and places to be explored, especially for those who love their Pinot. Sonoma is the largest producer of Pinot Noir in The Golden State.

Travel-Intel, which is written by travel industry journalists to keep tabs on moving trends in travel, reports from a variety of places and positions. These can be travel industry conferences and expos, as well as popular hotels, exotic resorts, cruise ships and ports, and destinations near and far to keep a spotlight on travel as an industry as well as travel as a coveted, and often expensive, activity. Current issues and archives can be viewed at www.travel-intel.com.

"At Travel-Intel, we aim to keep travel advisors current with a variety of trends in travel: what people are buying, where they are going, what they want out of a vacation -- and what they don't want. At the same time we strive to keep agents and other readers on top of the destinations they are targeting. Information is king when it comes to travel," says Lark Gould, content director for Travel-Intel and Tours.com.

As a veteran travel journalist who has been covering the travel industry for more than 30 years, Gould puts her incisive perspective into the weekly publication, with features and news updates, and also "packages" issues that present 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, as well as eTravel.news and Larkslist.

Tours.com is the online worldwide directory of travel. As the most comprehensive tour and travel directory out there Tours.com is celebrating its 20th anniversary as an authority website, which launched 1995. It features a deep and searchable database of tours and tour companies according to company, region and experience, the most comprehensive data base of tour companies around the world. It is also a one-stop resource for visa information, important phone numbers for travelers, regional experts, and travel agents certified with in-depth knowledge in their chosen areas. For local sightseeing and attractions in cities and towns around the world, companion site, Sightseeing.com, is the resource.

Tours.com is an official member of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA).

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Contact Information:

Press Contact:
Maria Polk
Phone 415-786-9108
maria@tours.com

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