and to look ahead to the year to come. Each year at their annual conference USTOA reveals the results of its membership survey which explores how their members, leading U.S. tour operators, fared in the past year and what their outlook for the following year is. The survey was conducted between July 18 and October 11, 2024, with a 96% participation rate.

This year’s study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) found that tour operator members of the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) project to close out 2024 with sales reaching $24.4 billion dollars, representing 8.4 million individual travelers.

“By the close of 2024 , USTOA tour operator members are projecting a more than 8% increase in sales from 2023, with a promising outlook for the year ahead” said Terry Dale, president & CEO of USTOA. “As we approach 2025, the mood is undeniably optimistic with three fourths (73%) of our tour operators anticipating optimistic to significant sales growth of 7% to 10% or more next year.” When looking at product categories, escorted/guided tours are the biggest contributors to overall USTOA membership revenues at more than a third for 2023 ( 36%) and 2024 (37%) . FIT packages followed at one fourth for 2023 (25%) and 2024 (27%), with custom packages seeing the most growth increasing from 3% in 2022 to 17% in 2023 and 16% in 2024.

The Value of Travel Advisors
Dale reinforced the critical role of travel advisors in the continued success of members’ businesses: Active Members reported that travel agencies are projected to represent 60.3% of total packages sold in 2024. He added, “What is encouraging to see is the strong relationship between our members and advisors has not wavered continuing to remain consistent over time; in fact, it has ticked up slightly in 2024 versus the 59.5% reported for 2023.”

Top Destinations
Italy was named the most popular destination for travelers in 2024 and 2025. Europe rounds out the top three “hot” destinations with Portugal ranked second, followed by Greece in third. Dale added, “Europe continues to dominate our popular destination lists . In fact, Europe accounts for half (52%) of the Active Member travel packages sold in both 2023 and 2024.” Also named on the “hot destination list” is France and Japan tied in fourth, followed by Spain, Iceland, Croatia, and South Africa, and Australia, Morocco and Thailand tied at the bottom. Active Members identified their top “off-the-beaten path” or emerging destinations that they see gaining popularity this year and next: Vietnam ranked first, followed by Iceland and Japan tied for second . Rounding out the list is Croatia, Morocco, South Korea, and Türkiye sharing third, followed by Albania, Bhutan, Italy, Namibia and South Africa tied for fourth.