CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – April 25, 2022— Earlier this year, Cruise Planners CEO and Founder Michelle Fee deemed 2023 the “Year of Travel” and judging by the robust and strong wave season that just wrapped up, 2023 is set to be the “Year of Travel and BEYOND”. According to the company, 2023 departures are up 22% over the full year of 2019 and 13% up over the full year of 2022. Cruise Planners is currently pacing at 73% ahead of 2022 in purchases, and although the timeframe coincides with the effects of the Omicron variant from early 2022, the company does expect this number to decrease but notes the expectation is to still finish the year incredibly strong and well above 2022.
Nearly 50% of the weekly bookings are for 2024 Departures, meaning the demand for travel extends to the year ahead which allows Cruise Planners to be set for another strong year in 2024. These numbers are exciting, considering the setback of the last few years, and Cruise Planners advisors are busy booking quality trips and vacations for their clients.
“What a year it’s been so far, and I mean that in the best possible way,” said Fee. “It’s been heartwarming to see our advisors going full speed ahead and it doesn’t look like they’re stopping anytime soon. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2023!”
In addition to these astounding numbers, Cruise Planners already has a 20% increase in the number of franchises who will be inducted into the Millionaires Club Member tier of sales ($1 million+ in total sales volume) and are on pace to end the year at 50% more set to join this prestigious club in 2024. This bodes well for the industry and the company as a whole, as advisors are building strong, sustainable travel businesses.
Cruise Planners recently was awarded Celebrity Cruises highest honor, the Chairman’s Award and was named by Franchise Business Review as a 2023 Top Low-Cost Franchises and Top 50 Franchises for Women. Allianz also honored Cruise Planners as a top partner for 2022, and EntrepreneurMagazine noted Cruise Planners 22 years of being on the Franchise 500 list.
Company Background
Cruise Planners was founded in 1994 and is the nation’s largest home-based travel agent franchise network. As a leader in the travel franchise industry, Cruise Planners positions a nation-wide network of 2,500 franchise owners for success by providing innovative marketing programs, proprietary and cutting-edge booking and technology tools, as well as professional development and travel agent training with the industry’s top executives. The company continues to be an industry leader and was named the No.1 travel franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for 18 consecutive years and awarded by Franchise Business Review as “Best-In-Category” for 3 years and ranked #18 on Travel Weekly’s 2022 Power List.
Franchise Business Review also ranked Cruise Planners #3 OVERALL on their list of Top 200 Franchises of 2022. Cruise Planners was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology, has been consistently named as one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by the South Florida Business Journal, is on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, and was recognized as one of the Top Workplaces by the Sun Sentinel.
Visit our website, www.cruiseplanners.com, for more information or to view the complete list of awards and honors. For those interested in becoming a franchise owner, please visit https://www.cruiseplannersfranchise.com/.