#Trending This Week - The Future Of Travel, Winter Bookings Are Going To Be Hot, A Phone-Free Destination, And Ground Transportation Will Be Having A Moment
Issue 157 • September 12, 2023
Travel and hospitality are shifting fast and furiously with perhaps more changes happening over the last decade or so than in the previous two or three. What you need to know this week: winter travel is going to be hot as consumers still want to travel and are willing to spend more to do so. One destination went phone free this summer to encourage people to experience it more authentically. With so much emphasis on reducing carbon emissions, ground transportation is poised to have a big moment. And a lot of people are already pulling out their crystal ball to make predictions about the future of travel. We have some input on consumer expectations a decade from now. Check it all out in our three-minute read below.
Winter Travel Is Going To Be Hot
Travel agents are predicting winter travel is going to be hot, although booking is off to a slower start than in previous years. People are opting for more far-flung itineraries, selecting higher-end five-star resorts where they can just relax, spending more on the overall experience, and upgrading accommodations to suites. And, surprisingly, agents are able to still find availability during the busiest holiday dates. Read more in Agent At Home here.
This Destination Went Phone Free
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, an island in Finland — one of the nation’s 41 national parks — declared itself a phone-free zone this summer. Ulko-Tammio issued a voluntary digital detox across the entire island. The goal was to encourage visitors to truly connect with the surrounding nature as well as other visitors for a truly unique and authentic experience. Read more in Thrillist here.
Ground Transportation Will Soon Be Having A Moment
The future of travel and concerns for sustainability will mean a greater focus on ground transportation, particularly as more European countries are issuing flight bans. But the concern is how ground operators will be able to create a more seamless experience between the transport and the transaction. This is a sector still hampered by fragmentation and the challenge of creating a seamless, easily bookable journey that can take a customer from door-to-door across a country or a continent. Read more in PhocusWire here.
The Future Of Travel
What is travel going to look like a decade from now? A recent survey took a look at not just what the travel experience will look like, but what travelers will look like. With a variety of findings include four main archetypes of travel, what we found really interesting was the five things travelers are looking forward to in the future including reaching destinations faster, more advanced ways to remember their experiences, more sustainable travel, the potential of tech to reduce travel headaches, and alternative ways of paying to make trips more affordable. Read more in Travel Binger here.