Revolutionary trip-planning website WendyPerrin.com unveils insights from a study of 2,500 travelers

Click to Tweet: Check out @wendyperrin 2016 travel insights unveiled during inaugural #WPTravelSummit at @DreamDWTN, and get inspiration for your next trip!

NEW YORK (January 12, 2016) – With the New Year comes new opportunities for travelers to stretch their wings, schedules and budgets in pursuit of outstanding travel experiences around the globe. Where are they headed? Why are they drawn there? How much are they spending? What are they avoiding? Veteran travel journalist Wendy Perrin, creator of a new cutting-edge trip-planning system with a human touch, has been on a mission to “save the world from mediocre trips.” Through her efforts at WendyPerrin.com, she has identified what matters to sophisticated travelers today, based on trip requests received from the site’s first 2,500 users. She shared revelations about 2016 travel at a press conference held today at Dream Downtown in New York City.

Real Travel Trends from Real Travelers

The trends Perrin has pinpointed are based on analysis of trip inquiries submitted by readers during the past year. “The findings did not come from a survey we sent out via email,” she notes. “The 2,500 travelers answered in-depth questionnaires on WendyPerrin.com, describing in detail the trip they want, and many of them have already booked 2016 trips via my trip-planning system. The trends I have identified tell where people are actually traveling and the motivations behind their choices.”

Among the key findings of Perrin’s new survey:

Popular Destinations Most Requested for 2016:

1. Cuba
2. United States
3. Italy
4. France
5. Mexico
6. Japan
7. African safaris/New Zealand (tied)
8. Argentina/Spain/India/Australia (tied)
9. Vietnam/Costa Rica (tied)
10. United Kingdom

Popular Destinations Already Booked for 2016:

1. Italy
2. United States
3. Argentina
4. African safaris
5. Mexico
6. Turkey
7. Australia
8. Chile
9. Costa Rica
10. New Zealand

Biggest Trip-Planning Challenges Travelers Cite in Their Trip Requests:

1. Choosing the right locations within the country/region they’ve picked
2. Avoiding touristy places, crowds, lines
3. Solving logistical and timing/pacing problems
4. Getting better value for their dollar
5. Finding the right accommodations

Biggest Past-Trip Frustrations Travelers Cite in Trip Requests:

1. Bad accommodations
2. Annoying guide
3. Poor activity choices
4. Ill-conceived pacing
5. Mediocre food

Past-Trip Disappointments Travelers Are Spending the Most to Avoid in the Future:

1. Bad food
2. Bad scheduling/activities
3. Bad guide

Trips Travelers Are Spending the Most for (average price per trip):

1. Safaris ($23,294)
2. Fishing ($22,782)
3. Trips with a private chef ($20,044)
4. Wildlife ($17,831)
5. Romance ($17,592)
6. Cruises ($16,318)
7. Scuba diving ($14,585)
8. Archaeology ($14,247)
9. Wine ($13,150)
10. Hiking ($12, 981)

A Trusted Source in Travel

Perrin brings impressive experience to her mission to “make your next trip extraordinary” through WendyPerrin.com. Formerly Director of Consumer News and Digital Community at Condé Nast Traveler, she penned a practical advice column, “The Perrin Report,” for 17 years there and an award-winning blog, The Perrin Post, for eight years. She has always been a consumer advocate, starting with her role as the magazine’s ombudsman investigating reader complaints about travel companies and helping those wronged get compensation. That gig inspired her book, Wendy Perrin’s Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know (Fodor’s). Perrin is currently TripAdvisor’s first-ever Travel Advocate, advising more than 315 million monthly visitors on the site’s blog and newsletter.

WendyPerrin.com stands out in the digital and social media age not by offering travelers a dizzying array of information, but by pinpointing precisely what travelers need for the most rewarding travel experiences and then offering seamless means of obtaining it.

“For two decades, travelers have come to me asking where to go, how to book it, and whom to book it through,” Perrin explains. “Everyone has gravitated toward online travel tools, but there is a distinct population that wants human travel planners with the savvy and clout to eliminate hassles and maximize your experience—via smart logistics, superlative connections, and insider access—in unfamiliar destinations. That is what we offer on WendyPerrin.com.”

Travel Advice with Perrin’s Personal Touch

WendyPerrin.com offers a range of complimentary services for travel consumers:

• Ask Wendy – Consumers complete a questionnaire regarding their trip goals, challenges and timing, and receive Perrin’s “best advice” to point them in “exactly the right direction.” Inquiries are typically answered within a day, and always personally by Perrin based on knowledge and contacts accumulated over years as a travel journalist.

• The WOW List – Designed for sophisticated travelers who crave the intel and special access that the best human travel planners provide, The WOW List connects consumers directly with the savviest destination specialists Perrin has discovered during her 25 years of reporting on the travel industry. Each has unparalleled expertise and connections in their particular region of the globe. “The WOW List is not pay-to-play,” emphasizes Perrin. “I can’t jeopardize my reputation by putting anybody on The WOW List who doesn’t belong there.”

• Travel Tips – Secrets and solutions for travelers to get the most out of their travel experiences when dealing with flights, hotels, cruises, family travel and more.

How WendyPerrin.com Works

Perrin has built a unique trip-planning system to ensure that every consumer who fills out a WendyPerrin.com trip-request form, and then books that trip through a WOW List travel expert, gets the best trip possible. Consumers who use the trip-request form receive key advice from Perrin at various stages of their trip planning. She tracks and monitors their trips from start to finish, and when they return home she invites them to post a review of the travel planner on WendyPerrin.com. This constant consumer feedback determines who Perrin keeps on The WOW List and who she removes. It ensures that The WOW List remains a journalistic enterprise that always puts the consumer first.

“People often want me to be their travel agent, and I can’t do that,” she adds. “But the system at WendyPerrin.com is set up to connect them with the travel specialists I would use myself if I were in their shoes.”

From Editor to Entrepreneur

While Perrin describes the leap from editorial to entrepreneurship as “the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” she credits her decades as a reporter for instilling a passion for consumer advocacy and an indestructible sense of integrity. “Every single business decision I make puts the needs of the consumer first and foremost, because WendyPerrin.com won’t work if consumers don’t trust me,” she says, adding: “I have very firm rules about ethics in journalism and conflict-of-interest issues, and I’ve turned down a lot of money as a result.”

Perrin further believes that WendyPerrin.com has carved out a niche not offered by the myriad other travel-related sites on the Internet. Her site, she says, “is built specifically for people who want a trip that is smartly choreographed and want to connect with the right choreographer.”

For more information, visit WendyPerrin.com or contact Wendy Perrin at wp@wendyperrin.com.

Engage with Wendy Perrin on social media:
Twitter: @wendyperrin
Instagram: @wendyperrin
Facebook.com/WendyPerrinTravel

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Contact: Michelle Kelly
Hawkins International PR
(212) 255-6541
michellek@hawkpr.com

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.