This blog post is a reflection of the The Future of Tourism trend report from 2021.
The focus of the report was in the trends and insights of tourism, what are travelers looking for in the future. Unique experiences, digitalization, safety (after Covid-19) or something else?
About the trend report
The trend report, in their words, “dives into the emerging trends within the tourism spaces”. Report focuses on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and what are the trends and future of the industry after it. Why did I choose this one? Because it’s all about the future. You can’t be fully invested to this industry with out focusing also to the future. You need to be one step above all the time.
Effects of the Covid-19
During the pandemic, the tourism and hospitality industry took a big hit, because many individuals cancelled every non-essential trips they had planed. While trying to survive from it, tourism and hospitality companies started to launch different kind of offers and discounts for customers just to get some kind of sales. And this actually worked. Customers were coming restless during the lock downs, so these kind of “one of a kind” offers became really tempting. Customers were craving some kind of “luxury” and change of scenery during their everyday life.
After and and even during the pandemic, customers started to appreciate their homeland. Maybe fear of the virus, realization of the loss of earnings (business wise) or “proud to be” mentality or combination of all of the above boosted the popularity of domestic traveling. Also seeking the luxury and uniqueness during the everyday life took an extra notch up, especially on domestic travel field. Staycation – type of vacationing became very common during and after the pandemic.
Unique experiences – luxury and one of a kind trips
Like stated above, customers has started to seek more and more “luxury” to their lives – with out forgetting the carbon footprint -, so any kind of unique experiences has raised their heads after the pandemic. For example, Airbnb has started to expand what they are offering for customers. There is everything from minimalist to a high-end rentals. You can even find many theme rentals – video gaming, Hello Kitty, nature, futuristic, Star Wars etc. There is something for everyone.
Digitalization and science behind the industry
Luxury travel companies are relying on science when they are trying to improve the unique activities for customers, especially when we are talking about nature. Customers are curious and woke about environment and sustainability. They want to travel and see the world with minimal carbon footprint. This can be achieved with a help from science and digitalization.
As some of you may have noticed, there is an app for everything. Great example for it in this industry is My Aurora Forecast – app. It tells you where and when you have the best chance of seeing the great northern lights, Aurora Borealis. How is that reducing the carbon footprint, you ask. Well, you don’t need to drive around all over again and again while “hunting” the northern lights, you can just wait the alert and then get going. Simple and effective isn’t it?
There is also more information available nowadays rather than 10 to 15 years ago about the “greener choices”, especially on the internet. The information is easily available for most of the people in the world. Being woke is truly the future of the industry.
What do I think is the future of tourism?
I think that the future of this industry is in unique experiences. People are living more and more hectic lives and are craving a break from their everyday lives. Because of the inflation, people have less money to spend, but they are trying to save up enough to get a “day off” and treat themselves. And I truly think that these kind of people are potential customers of “unique experiences”. I personally want to create something unique and high-end for this industry someday, so maybe that’s also the reason, why I believe that the future of this industry is unique experiences.
I also do believe that digitalization is the future. We don’t even realize that how much technology we use and need in this industry, or less to say that what we could be using. Online booking, reviews, blogs, apps etc., they are all result of digitalization. What else there could be?