The year is officially behind me here at Mr. Travel Agent, LLC. Today a repeat client family boarded a plane for Capetown, where they will spend the holiday before heading up to Tanzania for a week on Luxury Safari and in Zanzibar. Tomorrow a couple flies to Honolulu to begin their Oahu & Maui Holiday Vacation. Those are my final departures of the year, 2023 is officially in the books, all the pins are on the client map. As I do every year, I like to look back on the year with a bit of an agency recap.
First 2023 is my first full year operating Mr. Travel Agent, LLC, after launching the business in mid '22. The year closes at Mr. Travel Agent, LLC with combined client sales over 80% higher than 2022 which, 2022 closed 50% higher than 2021, but 2022 was in line with my best years pre pandemic. Previously as a salaried advisor a good year was $1 Million which was achieved a few times in my career, and I considered it a typical benchmark in a solid year when I was in a salaried position. So as the owner of Mr. Travel Agent, LLC, I'm very pleased to see incredible growth in 2023.
2023 saw 239 travelers/clients come through Mr. Travel Agent, LLC, a growth of over 100% in clientele which encompassed nearly 80 different curated itineraries to 27 countries all over the globe. I saw travelers return to Japan, Africian Safaris, Australia & Argentina, for the first time since pre pandemic. The conflict in Ukraine didn't stop clients who visited Bosnia this year and Eastern Europe with the popular mainstays such as Hungary, Croatia, Slovkia & Czech Republic all saw my clients this year.
Approx 15% of my clients were Caribbean & Mexico vacation travelers. Mexico led these destinations, which is not surprising, but Antigua, Bermuda & The Bahamas were the runners up for the Caribbean.
What was surprising to me was that 2023 saw about 10% of my clientele in domestic destinations, this is mainly because of a growth in Hawaii interest this year, but also included Alaska, the National Parks and the West Coast.
Europe was once again the continent of choice by far, and me being a European Expert, this is my bread and butter, and thrive and elevate my offerings and connections in Europe. While the UK itself had about 5% of my client, the EU saw out of those 239 clientele, 176 were Europe bound. Europe saw clients in Spain, Croatia, Austria, C. Republic, France, Portugal, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Greece and of course Italy. I'll discuss Italy in a moment. If one country gets the overall runner up award, in 2023 it goes to Greece, which saw 10% of my clientele call on Greece, be that the mainland or islands, or both.
But the winner of yet another year at Mr. Travel Agent, LLC. goes to Italy. Bella Italia! Italy received 114 clients out of 239. Thats right around 50%. Yes 50% of all my clientele were going to Italia this year. Some mixed Italia with Greece, others with Germany, Switzerland, France or the UK. Italy has so much to offer its travelers, and it is the worlds best return destination. If you take that 50% clientele and equate with the 1.8 Million in sales volume, you could say 900K goes to Italy. That's not exact, nor any part based on figures, but just think of it, in that way. Thats over 4x as many clients that visited Greece, the runner up.
Of course it is my goal to diverisify destinations so it's not so Italy heavy, but with my deep connections in and knowledge of Italy, I can craft an Italian Vacation with the best of the best, and can do so very efficiently, and becuase of this, I curate Italy quickly and never pass an Italy client opportunity. Though I have those same kind of incredible connections all over the world, as well as every country in Europe.
2023 saw clients cruise on Crystal, NCL, Disney Cruise Lines, AMA Waterways, Seabourn and Silversea. It saw clients travel through Europe & Japan by high speed rail. Island hop in the Greek Islands by jet & ferry and much more. Clients swam in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and wine tasted in the Mendoza Wine Region of Argentina. Clients charted motor yachts in the Croatian Islands, the Amalfi Coast, the Cote D'Azur and the Algarve of Portugal.
Most popular city scapes, came in the way of visits to Capetown, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Dublin, Quebec City, Athens, London, Munich, Rome, Florence, Sydney, Kyoto & Tokyo.
The best beach escapes came in the way of relaxing on Antigua, Bermuda, San Sebastian, Hvar, Cannes, Bahamas, Mykonos, Positano and more.
TOP 5 Destinations in The World 2023:
#5: Hawaii
#4: United Kingdom
#3: Mexico
#2: Greece
#1: Italy
As always I'm here to make my clients travel dreams come true, to show them destinations they always wanted to go to, to have them experience things they never thought they would be able to, to expose them to cultures, food, history and the beauty of the world.
"Travel is both an investment in oneself and the world around you."
Mr. Travel Agent, LLC is here and ready to assist in your 2024/2025 travels, let's craft those journeys that you will forever remember. I will personally take care of everything.