THIS YEAR’S GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS
The global travel trends Nomad Africa is watching this year will be about travel’s continued rise and evolution despite extreme geo-political and natural events.
across new frontiers in technology, brands are focusing on strategic expansion beyond traditional boundaries; travel’s purpose is growing with an emphasis on diversity and inclu
sion; improvements in disruptive technology; operators are finding new ways of bundling in travel while new unbundling continues to change how travel gets sold; and innovators are taking new approaches to creating immersive experiences in hospitality in the face of increased digitisation, among others. Here’s a quick dive into what to expect in the coming year 2020.
Hotels: Everything to Everyone
The rise of alternative accommodations like AirBnB has loomed over the hotel industry for a while now and despite the threat, the hotel industry continues to thrive.
But hotels are finally beginning to understand consumers’ growing desires for alternative lodgings — and why they sometimes choose to stay at someone’s apartment instead of in a hotel, whether for the value or for the experience of living like a local. It’s really a difference of experience and, in response, hotels are beginning to double up on the things they already have, the experiences that the Airbnb down the street can’t always easily deliver. Today, hotels have become converging points for co-living and co-working; living, breathing showrooms for retail brands; and in some instances, immersive entertainment centres all their own. They’re also becoming more fluid, flexible, and adaptable spaces. Thus, they’re transforming entire hotels into more accessible, interactive showrooms for their brands, and the lifestyles they promise to deliver to guests.
Blockchain: Sparking the New Tech Race
Short of completely transforming the industry in 2020, blockchain will become a yardstick against which travel enterprises measure their tech prowess. Dabbling in blockchain will send a message to partners and investors. It declares that your company has the bandwidth to look beyond today’s mundane operational challenges. During these early stages, having a selfproclaimed blockchain specialist-in-residence qualifies.
The long-run question is whether blockchain can add real value and make global travel better, faster, and cheaper. At this point, though, it may not really matter. Its mystique and disruptive potential as the next big thing since the Internet will send the industry chasing its lof t y promises. Blockchain and “decentralisation” is also starting to catch on as a statement against big tech. Early adopters will be rewarded with accolades as innovators and “knowers,” well before blockchain actually lives up to its disruptive potential.
Blockchain is likely to disrupt corporate travel
first. In today’s global economy, enterprises spend exorbitant amounts on travel. If companies like Winding Tree can power the back end and promise commission-free bookings, then those same companies will build the interfaces that connect them with air and hotel supply. Leisure or unmanaged travel would come later. It boils down to market education and bulk versus individual purchasing. Reaching the consumer still takes marketing dollars. Arguably, airlines and hotels still see value in paying intermediaries to spend those dollars for them.
Weather: Not So Bright Side
With recent climate change data pointing to violent storms and warmer temperatures becoming more regular, airlines, hotels, and especially tourism boards must reconsider both their short- and long-term planning.
It’s no secret that millions of tourists travelling each year often do more harm than good for the planet. Consider water waste, the garbage tourists leave behind, and the greenhouse gas emissions generated by travelling to destinations — especially by air. Many destinations are still in the early stages of planning for climate change. The global travel industry has started to rally around these issues and understands that many of the attractions and destinations travellers flock to are at risk because of climate change.
Mobile Devices: Genie in the Hand
It’s easy to underestimate the impact new technologies will have on consumers and businesses. Nowhere is this more true than the emerging impact of mobile devices on the travel sector.
A convergence of emerging tech tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, location services, and cloud-based data will finally realise their potential on the smartphone. Already, hotel guests can unlock their room with their smartphone. Instead of waiting until they get home, consumers share real-time vacation photos on Instagram. And paying in store is easy with a mobile wallet.
What’s still to come is much bigger: a mobilebased revolution in travel service that will anticipate your needs in advance, thus completely changing the experience, efficiency, productivity, and even enjoyability of travel. The key will involve a shif t in mobile usage from a device used reactively (when there’s a problem) to one that proactively han
The millennial market is even impacting how safari holidays are marketed and booked. Travel agents still may deal with the details, but image-rich social media threads increasingly inspire safari travel. The millennial generation is all about authentic experience, about writing their own scripts, telling their own stories.
dles an issue before a traveller even knows they have one.
Have a delayed flight? Tomorrow’s mobile travel service automatically contacts the hotel to let them know you’re late and to not release your room. On a business trip and a meeting is cancelled last-minute? Your mobile travel service sees your calendar change, books you two hours at a local co-working space, and shares directions to get there in your rental car — or surfaces your local LinkedIn contacts and prepopulates an email invitation to catch up at a nearby coffee shop.
This DIY sector of the business travel world, representing an estimated $165 billion in spending from small and midsize companies without a travel department, is the perfect starting place to deploy this new predictive mobile service revolution, a movement that is likely to then spread to the leisure segment over the next few years.
Eventually all travel – will never be the same.
Millennials: All About the Experience
With new products and services, the tourism industry in southern Africa is quickly understanding the needs, wants, and spending power of the authenticity-seeking, hyper-connected millennial traveller. Intra-African millennial travel as a key growth point for the rest of the decade as cross-border collaboration booms, particularly in creative industries. While city hotels are obvious targets for millennial-focused brands, safari operators are also courting younger travellers. The millennial market is even affecting how safari holidays are marketed and booked. Travel agents still may deal with the details, but image-rich social media threads increasingly inspire safari travel. The millennial generation is all about authentic experience, about writing their own scripts, telling their own stories.
The local millennial traveller “still cares about brand and value, whilst foreign travellers want a more meaningful and mindful experience.
Personality with Extra Fries
When fast food got its start decades ago, the commodification and corporatisation of food were appealing to a forward-looking population. Now, though, after decades of mass production, pink slime, and preservatives, customers are searching for something less corporate. In addition to fast food companies choosing to ethically source fresh, notfrozen ingredients, they’ve augmented these efforts with robust marketing campaigns — both on social and more traditional media — that give the brands a voice rather than a script. Often fun, irreverent, and at times provocative, these brand voices work to engage a customer base that has become fragmented due to the abundance of restaurants and availability of well-priced food.