Married To Change

As it has every other aspect of leisure travel, the COVID-19 pandemic has delivered profound changes to destination weddings. What had been a long-growing travel segment built on travelers’ easy access to dream destinations and unlimited wish-fulfillment is now subject to the same health-related shutdowns, restrictions and new protocols faced across the travel landscape.

We spoke recently with John Hawks of the Destination Wedding Honeymoon Specialists Association (DWHSA), who shares his expert perspective on how his member travel agents can surmount the unprecedented impediment to travel posed by the pandemic.

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AAH: How are your organization’s members dealing with the weddings and honeymoons market during the pandemic?

JH: In normal times, romance travel is one of the most dependable, profitable niches for advisors. Surveys show 95 percent of engaged U.S. and Canadian couples want a honeymoon even if they have to cut back on household expenses.

But this pandemic has disrupted those plans for many members’ clients, not just in terms of their health concerns but also their financial situations.

So DWHSA members have one big strategy for dealing with the destination wedding and honeymoon market right now: options. For romance trips that involve just the couple, they’re scouring the planet for the safest destinations, they’re recommending domestic alternatives, and they’re helping clients trim or postpone their plans.

For trips with groups (destination weddings), they’re guiding clients through the maze of travel restrictions and risks due to COVID-19, they’re suggesting options such as turning the destination wedding into an elopement, and they’re pushing 2021 and 2022 dates. Next year’s wedding calendars are filling fast at many Caribbean and Mexican resorts.

AAH: What has been the biggest COVID-19 driven change your members had had to adapt to?

JH: The biggest pandemic driven change by far is uncertainty. Our members can’t know for certain which destinations will open for travel when, which resorts and ships will be operating, and how their clients and those going with them will feel about traveling then.

Now with this virus there’s no foreseeable ‘end’ in sight, and that’s going to change, probably permanently, the ways we work with clients to plan romantic getaways, [demanding] more flexibility with trip plans, recommending different options besides the usual all-inclusive resorts and ships, etc.

AAH: How has your organization sought to help members during this crisis?

JH: DWHSA members were hit very hard by this pandemic. Our latest survey (June) found that 60 percent of their clients canceled the trips they’d booked and paid for. But of that 60 percent, only one in three rescheduled or rebooked. The pandemic [also] knocked out more than half a year’s income in terms of lost and delayed commissions.

From March through June, DWHSA shared constant (almost daily) updates on U.S. and Canadian government assistance programs. We helped more than a third of our members individually with filling out forms and answering questions about program rules. Also, we intervened with specific suppliers when members reported trouble getting answers about refunds and future travel credits.

Starting in July, we switched gears to help members stabilize their businesses [including] finding host agencies if they wanted to shut down their storefront locations, and automating their marketing if they needed to take jobs outside travel to stay afloat.

Now through December, we’ll focus primarily on new training and consumer marketing initiatives to help members position themselves for future travel demand as the world embraces the “new normal” of COVID-19 testing, sanitation protocols and approaching vaccines.

AAH: What does a COVID-era destination wedding look like and how difficult is it to pull off?

JH: There’s such a huge range of DWs these days – from “bucket list” elopements where couples get married on a cliff or a glacier to South Asian destination weddings at Caribbean and Mexican resorts that involve 300 guests and an elephant! But, going forward generally, we expect smaller DW groups (10 to 20 guests, instead of 40 to 60).

More DW ceremonies may be “streamed” over the Internet so that friends and relatives can attend remotely from home. Some couples will make their DW ceremonies more informal with fewer people attending. But we’re also seeing the trend of couples indulging more in their ceremonies. Since it’s a smaller group, they figure they’ll go all out with excursions and on-site activities or spring for reception dinners with a chef’s menu.

The difficulty in 2020 and 2021 won’t be necessarily the logistics of planning pared-down trips and ceremonies. It’ll be reassuring guests about the uncertainties of traveling during this period. Our members are working overtime to inform guests about the travel restrictions for the chosen destination and the health/sanitation protocols at the resort or on the ship.