Niche Travel Market For Recently Unemployed
With the recent launch of JetBlue’s Promise Program, many tourism operators have been working on similar programs to stimulate travellers from the ranks of those recently unemployed.
JetBlue’s Promise Program allowed passengers who lost their jobs after booking their flights to cancel and refund their seats, despite the carrier’s well-known ‘no-cancellation’ stance.
Since then, other tourism operators including cruises, hoteliers and touring products have also stepped forward to launch their offerings for the job insecure and jobless.
From insurance to cover job losses courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Lines, or trading ‘worthless’ Wall Street stocks for a stay at the Elite Island Resorts, and even drastically reduced ski-passes at Lake Tahoe for those who can prove they’re on the dole; the travel industry is getting creative.
And some companies are finding that the recently jobless, with more time on their hands are also travellers who book longer trips.
Photo by JetBlue.
Jaclyn on April 18th, 2009 12:47 pm
I’ve always believed that airlines and cruises should refund peoples money if they can not make their flight for whatever reason, not just because of the recent economy. I mean, think of all those people who need last minute flights when there arnt any seats left, now there would be.
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