In its latest trend report, JWT surveys the latest travel trends, focusing on the rise of peer-to-peer services and hyper-personalization, as well as a range of other developments, from holographic concierges to pop-up hotels.
“As the peer-to-peer marketplace expands in size and scope, it will increasingly upend the hospitality, tourism and transportation industries,” says Ann Mack, director of trend-spotting at JWT. “But it will also present opportunities to established travel brands. In partnering with peer-powered businesses or launching their own version of a P2P service, for instance, they can infuse freshness or modernity into their persona, broaden their appeal or get an existing consumer segment to look at them in an interesting new light.”
Travel is also getting hyper-personalized, thanks in part to the rise of Big Data and social media sharing. “Today’s travel industry is starting to fine-tune offerings around individuals – increasingly, even first-time customers will be known entities as companies shift from reactive information gathering to proactively researching customers before they arrive,” says Jessica Vaughn, JWT senior trends strategist.
The report also takes a look at Millennial travellers, whose adventurous and social approach to travel is influencing the industry in a number of ways, and maps out more than 20 Things to Watch in travel, from innovative tech tools and services to new categories of hotels to the next hot vacation theme.
JWT’s “Travel: Changing Course” is the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted by JWTIntelligence throughout the year. It includes data from a survey the agency conducted in the U.S. and the U.K. from Nov. 9–19, 2012, in which they polled 1,006 adults aged 18-plus, and input from experts and influencers in the travel, investment and marketing sectors.
The report can be found on JWTIntelligence.com. Additional knowledge and research on JWTIntelligence.com includes recent trend reports on mobile, embracing analog, health and happiness, food and JWT’s 10 Trends for 2013 and 100 Things to Watch in 2013.