# The Advisor Advantage: U.S. Travel Agency Landscape 2025

**Publisher:** Phocuswright  
**Published:** n/a  
**Category:** Research, media & analysts  
**Type:** Report  
**Access:** Free  
**Official source:** https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Research-Updates/2026/the-advisor-advantage  
**Canonical:** https://tourismintel.ai/reports/the-advisor-advantage-phocuswright

## At a glance
- Travel agency sales outpace overall travel market despite slower projected growth in 2025 versus prior year.
- Only 2% of advisor clients cite best price as reason for booking; personal relationships and service dominate.
- Advisors targeting younger demographics through social media presence to offset cost-conscious Gen Z and millennial preferences.
- Exclusive and high-end luxury travel segment leading gains as affluent travelers seek unique experiences and personalized service.

## What the report covers
Phocuswright's U.S. Travel Agency Landscape 2025, a joint project with Travel Weekly, examines the travel agency distribution market across leisure and corporate segments. The research combines comprehensive market sizing with a survey of over 1,500 U.S. travel advisors to track growth trends, workforce evolution, technology adoption (including AI and NDC), and strategies for attracting younger clients while maintaining personalized service.

## Key findings
The U.S. travel agency market remains resilient despite inflation and economic uncertainty headwinds. Travel agency sales are outpacing overall travel market growth, with projected deceleration in 2025 compared to the previous year. Exclusive and high-end luxury travel segments are leading overall gains, driven by affluent travelers willing to pay premium prices for distinctive experiences and advisor expertise.

Travel advisor clients skew significantly older and wealthier than general traveler demographics. More than three-quarters are over 40 years old, with 44% aged 55 and above. Household incomes reflect wealth concentration: six in ten clients earn $100,000 or more annually. This profile underscores advisors' traditional strength in serving mature, established markets.

Price plays a minimal role in advisor client selection despite heightened price sensitivity among U.S. travelers broadly. According to advisors surveyed, only 2% of their clients cite best price as a booking driver. Instead, personal relationships, quality customer service, and advisor expertise in travel products and destinations emerge as primary decision factors, differentiating the advisor channel from online travel agencies.

Younger travelers present both challenge and opportunity for the advisor channel. Though representing a key demographic in broader travel markets, Gen Z and millennials tend toward cost-conscious booking behavior and favour OTAs for price comparison. Travel agencies are responding by recruiting and training younger advisors with strong social media presence to bridge generational engagement gaps and educate younger travelers about personalized service value propositions.

## Key numbers
| Metric | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Travel advisor clients aged 55 and above | 44% | observed; U.S. Travel Agency Landscape 2025 |
| Advisor clients citing best price as booking reason | 2% | observed; based on advisor reports in survey |
| Survey sample size | more than 1,500 U.S. travel advisors | U.S. Travel Agency Landscape 2025 conducted with Travel Weekly |

## Why it matters
**DMOs & destinations** — Destination marketing organisations should recognise that travel advisors control access to affluent, experienced travellers aged 40+ with higher disposable income. Strategies emphasising unique, curated experiences and personalised itineraries—rather than price-based promotions—resonate with this demographic. Building strong advisor partnerships and providing exclusive content enhances destination positioning to this lucrative segment.

**Hotels & hospitality** — Hotels competing for advisor-sourced bookings must prioritise relationship-building and service excellence over rate competitiveness. Advisor clients represent wealthy, loyal demographics; investing in familiarisation trips, enhanced commissions, and dedicated account management strengthens channel loyalty. Youth-focused segments require different value propositions: emphasise experiential and lifestyle offerings to appeal to younger advisors promoting properties to Gen Z travellers.

**Travel tech & distribution** — Technology vendors should recognise advisors' role as relationship-driven professionals, not commodity distributors. Solutions enabling personalised service delivery, social media engagement, and niche market targeting outperform price-optimisation tools. NDC and AI adoption among advisors presents opportunities for platforms offering sophisticated customer experience tools, younger demographic targeting, and seamless omnichannel engagement capabilities.

## Methodology and limits
The report combines comprehensive market sizing analysis with a survey of over 1,500 U.S. travel advisors. The research is a joint project between Phocuswright and Travel Weekly tracking the travel agency distribution landscape. The publicly available summary does not specify survey timing, margin of error, or detailed analytical methodology. Figures presented represent observed data from surveyed advisors and market analysis; growth projections for 2025 are forecasts. This brief is based on the summary content available and does not access the full report.

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© Phocuswright for the original report. This brief is an original editorial summary by TourismIntel (https://tourismintel.ai). Read the original: https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Research-Updates/2026/the-advisor-advantage