TORONTO — Helping clients book and travel without fear or hesitation can be a tall order these days.
One day, everything is fine. The next day, it’s another round of chaos for the travel industry, and travellers. Take your pick: war, Ebola, hantavirus, jet fuel shortages, ongoing crossborder rhetoric, geopolitical tensions. And that’s just the last few months.
Economic concerns loom large too. “I have more and more clients interested in Europe and Med sailings over Caribbean, but prices are around three times to Europe vs. flying to the U.S. to catch a Caribbean cruise. It definitely hits the pocketbook a little more and flights become one of the biggest concerns for the budget,” says cruise specialist Dylan Shaw with H2O Escapes.
Canadians have always ‘valued value’ – an understatement for many – and we’re used to punitive exchange rates and budget worries.
General unease, on the other hand, can be tricky to talk through. “I had one senior couple cancel a trip for 2027 ‘due to the world’s unrest’,” says Michelle Whalen with The Travel Agent Next Door.
Canadian are famously intrepid when it comes to travel, but some are just about done with it. They want to book a vacation but with so many uncertainties, they just don’t know where to go, and a ‘staycation’ – that 10-letter word that’s more like a four-letter word for the travel industry – looks increasingly appealing.
REASSURANCE IN TIMES OF INFO OVERLOAD
We wanted to know how travel advisors can help clients distinguish between anxiety vs. legitimate warning signs about travelling beyond their own backyards.
So we talked to TravRisk Institute Inc.’s Stephen Pike. Pike founded TravRisk as a global training and advisory platform focused on travel risk management and preparedness, open to travel advisors, corporations and just regular travellers. The program teaches advisors how to think about travel risk in a practical, balanced and non-alarmist way, he says. “It’s not about fear. It’s about preparedness, situational awareness and helping clients make informed decisions.”
The first tip for travel advisors: reassure clients in these times of information overload. “People are consuming global headlines in real time, but they often lack context for what those events actually mean operationally for their specific trip. A major headline somewhere in the world does not automatically mean travel is unsafe everywhere. At the same time, ignoring genuine warning signs can also create problems,” says Pike.
RATIONAL VS. DISPROPORTIONATE
Tip #2: when it comes to international travel, some fears are rational, and others are disproportionate. Talk them through with clients, and know the difference. “Some fears are absolutely rational,” says Pike. “Infrastructure instability, civil unrest, severe weather disruption, medical system limitations, cybercrime and transportation interruptions are all legitimate considerations because they can directly affect a traveller’s ability to move, communicate or receive assistance. But many travellers tend to focus disproportionately on highly visible or heavily publicized threats while overlooking the more common disruptions that actually affect people every day.”
For example, clients often worry about dramatic low-probability events while underestimating things like phone theft, transportation strikes, fraud, lost documents, medication issues “or poor decision-making caused by fatigue and unfamiliar environments.” Every traveller knows that feeling.
“Most travel problems are not cinematic events,” says Pike. “They’re operational problems.”
How quickly can a ‘stable’ destination or region deteriorate? “Very quickly — and that’s one of the defining realities of modern travel,” he adds.
Over these past few tumultuous months some travel advisors have described finding a great getaway for their client as a game of Whac-a-Mole. “Travellers sometimes think of destinations as permanently ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe,’ but risk environments are dynamic. Weather events, political protests, transportation failures, cyber incidents, labour disruptions, public health events, or regional conflicts can alter conditions in hours or days,” says Pike.
“We’ve seen this repeatedly over the last decade. A destination can appear completely stable until a triggering event suddenly changes the operational picture. That doesn’t mean people should stop travelling. It means travellers and the industry need to think more in terms of adaptability and situational awareness.”
GAP BETWEEN TRAVEL BOOKINGS & THE EXPERIENCE OF TRAVEL
One of Pike’s go-to phrases: “‘The world changed faster than travel preparedness did.’” He says the travel industry has become “incredibly efficient” at booking movement, but the preparedness side of travel has not evolved at the same pace.
He says he spent decades travelling internationally in industrial safety and risk management roles and over time, he noticed what he calls a growing disconnect between how complex the world was becoming and how casually many people still approach travel preparedness. “The modern travel environment changed dramatically … yet much of the travel conversation still revolved around bookings, upgrades and itineraries. I realized there was a major gap between the booking itself and the lived experience of travel.”
That’s where travel preparedness comes in. “The goal is not to make people fearful. The goal is to help them become more resilient and adaptable when things don’t go according to plan.”
And that brings us to tip #3. Travel advisors help clients separate anxiety from actionable risk, and that adds to their value proposition, says Pike. “They can help travellers ask better questions.”
Here’s a checklist for advisors counselling travel- and booking-hesitant clients: Is this event localized or widespread? Is infrastructure still functioning normally? Are flights operating normally? Are governments changing advisories? Is the concern emotional, or is it operational?
Good travel planning today “is no longer just about finding the best price or itinerary,” says Pike. “It’s increasingly about preparedness, context and informed decision-making. My philosophy is very simple: prepare, don’t scare.”
This article appears in the June 4, 2026 edition of Travelweek.
