KANSAS CITY, Mo — With gas prices increasing to new highs and tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalating, the travel industry is bracing for another potential blow.
Mark Comfort is a Kansas City-based travel adviser and owns Cruise Holidays and Comfort Tours. He says it's too early to predict how much air fare will go up, but the demand to travel is still there and growing. Comfort says this past February was his biggest month in 33 years and said Alaska, Mexico and the Caribbean were top travel destinations for his clients
"Fuel is a big deal, you'll see prices going up when they go up," Comfort said.
Even though airfare pries have the potential of going up, Comfort thinks airlines will still keep prices competitive, with the global travel industry actively trying to rebound from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Comfort said travelers are currently cashing in on exclusive deals at resorts and hotels, who want to attract travelers back into their doors.
"Everything is supply and demand, so as the demand goes up, the price goes up," Comfort said. "They have to keep their prices competitive so people will want to go, so now is actually an incredible time to vacation and to plan a vacation."
Comfort encourages people who want to travel to act now with demand expected to go up in the next 3 -5 months and to invest in travel insurance on your next trip.
"Be wise, be cautious, be comfortable and protect yourself with travel insurance, especially if you have to cancel for any reason," Comfort said.
Another travel tip Comfort said is to remember a lot of international destinations continue to have COVID-19 protocols in place. He said this is why going to travel adviser for your next vacation is beneficial.
"People want counselors we've actually changed the name of our of our agents to travel advisers, and in our case, vacation advisers because people want to know what the COVID policies are, they want to know everything before they go and it's very confusing and you don't want to make a mistake."
