Technology

A NEW YEAR OF TRAVEL AWAITS

/ Gavin Tollman / Leave a comment

It’s hard to imagine that we are already in the final days of December, another year having come and gone. When I reflect on the year that was, it is unambiguous that we are living in a dynamic, acceleratingly everchanging world. Within the dynamism, we are being forced to grasp new rules we could never have anticipated nor imagined a year ago.

So, what awaits us in 2024? To look forward, I like to begin by looking back.

After the moribund, endless, three-year span of the Covid pandemic, 2023 will be remembered as the first full year of recovery. In it we enjoyed growing confidence and excitement as ‘surge’ became the most frequently used term to describe the year’s travel world.

There are so many reasons to be looking up, and forward. But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves just yet.  All around us we see change. And it is not only the great news within our great industry. Nor is it all positive. However, our industry remains fueled by hope, hard work, and most importantly, the need for human connection.

Looking back, the world faced a collision of diverse challenges. Economically, despite the world being reconnected as travel and trade return to a strong position, rising costs of essentials of living – food, fuel, and other fundamentals – have put pressure on disposable incomes and freedoms to spend.

Environmentally, we have seen extreme weather events, distinct evidence of the climate crisis, devastating communities forced to face the worst heatwaves, fires and floods they have ever seen in their lifetimes.

Politically we have seen hurt and hardship like not seen in decades. Two wars are raging on at this precise moment while other geo-political tensions continue to brew from East to West. With elections taking place in many countries in the new year – an estimated 4.4+ billion people going to the polls – we can only expect the noise to get louder, the rhetoric harder to digest, and the risks of separation greater.

Despite these very real, very raw challenges that we as the wider global community have faced, our industry continues to provide people with reasons to be hopeful, holding on to dreams, and onto one another. We see it all around us, and we can have confidence that we will continue to see it in the year ahead.

Still, while we can deservedly feel a sense of relief that recovery is well under way, there is no doubt that as leaders of the future of travel, it is essential that we evolve. We must continue to make clear, conscious decisions that fully honour the responsibility we all have in doing the right things, the right way, for the right reasons, right now. 

What does this mean?

As an industry, we must recognise that as travel demand returned at rates that had us feeling proud of the resilience of our industry, we cannot deny the fact that the travel orbit caught the ecosystem of our industry flat footed in our ability to adequately service the revival. The short-sightedness of many in the industry – many critical links in keeping travellers across the world moving safely, swiftly and smoothly, along with all of their luggage – resulted in severe disappointment of both travellers and the industry alike. The learnings must be taken forward, for as confident as we may be in bookings returning across the globe, if the airlines are not flying, or airports not operating airbridges, or the trains not connecting, no one is moving. Add weather disruptions into the mix and the damage to movement and motivations is intensified.

As a business and as individuals, we need to evolve our recognition of how travellers wishes, wants, and also worries, have changed in this new world of travel. Ultimately, we must never forget this simple truth: we are them. We as travellers are relooking why, how, when, where and with whom we travel. How we respond to our customers and partners, how we care for our guests, must never lose the human touch, the reasons we travel.

So, rather than trends, these are the specific forces of market evolution that I feel we need to be conscious of. These are the things we are preparing for, all the while being equally ready to adapt to the unexpected deviations:

1. Exceptional Demand, Everywhere: The desire to travel and experience new destinations will grow stronger than ever for one simple reason: the appreciation of travel will continue to inspire people to reconnect. Having been starved of travel during recent years, the hunger to broaden their horizons, gain new perspectives, explore new cultures, create lasting memories, and foster a sense of personal growth and fulfillment will need to be fed. We already see it. The UNWTO recently reported that from January to September this year, international tourism recovered 87% of pre-pandemic levels, with 975 million tourists travelling internationally in the first nine months of 2023, a huge +38% over the same months of 2022. And recovery was everywhere. Europe recovered 94% of pre-pandemic visitors, Africa 92%, the Americas 88% and Asia and the Pacific 62% (recognising that Asia only fully reopened in late Q1/2023). With the whole world now travelling, momentum is set to continue, travellers working around challenges that the world may be facing.

Traditional Patterns Are a Thing of the Past: Where we go will change. The evidence is clear in a move in travel patterns, with traditional warm-season holiday seekers looking to cooler climates and different travel periods. This change represents not only a call to action for us to recognise, but a huge opportunity for us to leverage. Which is why we are acting by adjusting inventory based on shifting demands and leveraging our 100+ years of travel expertise to craft trips that go both to, and beyond, the iconic and uncover the soul of destinations, stretching travel periods to meet new travel times of the year attracting traveller interest. Whatever the time of year, wherever we may be, we continue to make meaningful local connections – staying true to our core purpose to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER™ .

2. Beyond The Hustle and Bustle: Travellers are increasingly seeking out unique and lesser-known destinations, moving away from overcrowded tourist hotspots to enjoy travels off the beaten path. Guests are looking for authentic and immersive travel experiences that enable them to get up close and personal with local communities and cultures, landscapes, and lifestyles. This speaks right to the heart of our business and brands.

3. AI Accelerating Travel Tech Intelligence: AI is not happening, it has happened. And we must embrace its power as a source for good, while at the same time, taming its usage to ensure it remains just that. It’s ability to understand individual preferences and behaviors is truly remarkable, elevating our ability to make a meaningful connections and real impact with, and for, travellers. While we are still in the early stages of the generative AI journey, I believe that this technology will be transformative, likening its impact on creativity to the internet’s revolution. Our fears will only be addressed by making friends with this new force of intel, recognising and activating its power to help us grow our brands, our business, and importantly, our relationships with our guests, our partners, and amongst ourselves.

4. Global Caring: We all know, and feel, how the climate crisis is having an impact on the places to which we most want to travel. As mentioned earlier, extreme weather events and their increased frequency and intensity is disrupting travel plans. We are seeing awareness of environmental issues continue to grow amongst our guests, with growing prioritisation of destinations that minimise the negative impact of global warming. TTC has always taken our responsibility to Mother Nature seriously, recognising over a decade ago the role that climate change & environmental factors are playing in the world. Our response: creation of the nonprofit foundation TreadRight back in 2008. Our How We Tread Right 5-year strategy with its 365-day year-round travel focus and a defined a road map for Net Zero by 2050 has been moving our guests beyond the the icons and deeper into the places we go, throughout the year, for years. At the heart of our efforts is ensuring travel is as good for the visited as the visitor. In doing so, all of our trips now include at least one MAKE TRAVEL MATTER™ experience that advances one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Vision, transparency, delivery – our ethos.

5. Near not Far: For all of the growth in international travel, domestic and regional travel continues to grow, lifting the baseline for destinations. The desire to get out and explore new frontiers, crossing borders, discovering new cultures and communities applies right at home as much as across the globe. This growing trend to discover our own backyards is vital to support local businesses and communities all year round, keeping the tourism economy and value chains active, creating new through-the-year habits with local travellers. The benefits, and opportunities, are immense, the avoidance of logistics of international travel aside.

6. Two To Not Overlook: Finally, there are two trends enjoying growth that, interestingly, can at times have one common bond, namely:

  1. Solo Travel: increased demand for people traveling on their own for various reasons, particularly women, and
  2. Workation / WFA (Work-From-Anywhere) Travel: once shy of showing personal time was being worked into work travel, employees and their employers are now encouraging combing work and play wherever in the world remote network connecting, and therefore working, is possible.

Ultimately, travellers are increasingly comfortable going solo as a planned holiday, or as an extension to work travel. Either alone, or combined, these two trends offer us great opportunity to attract travellers not needing friends or family alongside to fulfil their travel desires.

For all we can anticipate and wait to see, what I am sure of is that in 2024, travel and what we do will grow. There will however be unpredicted times, and unexpected trends. Our travel landscape will be more demanding; requiring us to frequently rebalance our energies and refocus our efforts. Which is why the spirit of flexibility and adaptability we all adopted in 2023 will continue to be a necessity for us, for travelers, and for the travel industry, as together we all navigate this now ever-changing travel landscape.

Whatever changes lie ahead, the constant remains that tourism can and needs to be a significant source of local revenue, stimulating economic growth and job creation. In a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected, travel plays a vital role in fostering global citizenship and promoting tolerance and empathy. And importantly, however and wherever tourism evolves, that it is done so responsibly. These are my givens.

And, as the twists and turns of 2024 unfold as a wonderful year to discover the world, the TTC community will ensure that travel continues to engender cultural exchange and understanding, enabling people from different backgrounds to come together, learn from one another, appreciate one another, and celebrate diversity and MAKE TRAVEL MATTER™ as a force for good, not just in 2024, but importantly for generations to come.

NEW YEAR, NEW HOPE, NEW POSSIBILITIES – IT’S TIME

/ Gavin Tollman / Leave a comment

2023 is here. And thankfully, for the first time in far too long, we can look forward to a world of discovery and possibility without restrictions or restraints. Finally, we can allow our wanderlust to feel the warm sun of a new year’s sunrise, allow our long-awaited plans to confidently take root, and our dreams to blossom. It’s time.  

We enter this new year of travel, and our new world of travel, with gratitude. 2022 was a wild year for both travellers and the industry alike. While we rediscovered the travel bug, we also felt its bite. The surge of pent-up travel demand, further fuelled by pent up travel budgets, revealed very real challenges across the global travel and tourism ecosystem. After standing still for so long, the industry was simply unable to cope with the huge, almost immediate rise in pressure on airlines, airports, and other critical networks. This, combined with the huge drop in traveller patience and sympathy, made for a heady cocktail.

Across the industry hard lessons have been learnt, linkages across the experience chain have been established, and critical investments in infrastructure and human capital have been made. No one, absolutely no one, wants to see the incredible opportunity for global recovery be wasted. Everyone is wishing for a 2023 in which we can all celebrate travel, travellers, and travelling.

Which is why, as I look at the year ahead with its very clear growth in travel spread, spend and momentum, I feel we need to not only take full advantage of the opportunity of these times of high demand, but also full responsibility for ensuring the opportunity is wholly embraced. Defaulting to old ways of thinking and doing, old models of business and brand building, and old ways of market attraction and conversion, cannot be our response.

We need to honour the changes that have occurred in not only WHERE, WHEN and HOW people wish to travel, but WHY, which has a direct impact on WHAT they seek to experience.

We need to respect the desire of travellers to reinvest not only their personal time and money, but their personal dreams, into reconnecting with the world despite the looming risks of global economic difficulties and logistical complexities.

We need to be their guides into the new world of travel.

With this foundation, the following are what I firmly believe we will see in travel in the year ahead. Some may call these ‘trends’. I prefer to call them ‘truths’ as we are too early into a new, post-pandemic world of travel to have trustworthy, trendable data.

The below are shared with you based on my observations of how I see the world reopening, my projections of the developing runway based on current demand and desires, and as a passionate practitioner in our great industry:

1. FOLLOWING AMERICA’S LEAD: In 2022, Americans were the first to return to international travel. In 2023, the rest of the world will join too. Why? Not only because of their growing confidence in the safety of travel, but because it’s also now clear that if they do not resume travel again, they will miss out on a very special time of global invitation and inspiration. Importantly, this will include the outbound Chinese travelling market – a market of over 150 million international travellers in 2019. The global travel industry is acutely aware of the immense pressure this will put on the ability to move millions upon millions safely and smoothly across the globe. For this reason, increases in air capacity and stabilisation of air fares are an absolute priority. We saw it during COVID: no aviation, no travel, regardless of demand.

2. PAYING THE PRICE: Travel costs will continue to rise. It is impossible for them not to. And it is not because of industry opportunism. Quite the contrary. The industry is doing all it can to eliminate barriers for travel to meet demand, however inflation, threats of a looming recession, the global energy crisis, reduced supply, labour shortages and rising costs are resulting in the cost of travel increasing. And as we all know too well, the same is true with the cost of living. As such, the opportunity for travellers to reconnect to their travel dreams within a known pre travel budget will bring confidence; meaning the relevancy of pre-packaged, pre-planned, inclusive holidays or tours will be on the rise.

3. SEASONAL SILVER LININGS: With increased travel prices especially in peak travel periods, we will see the expansion of both shoulder and off-season travel as travellers adopt ways of stretching their travel budgets by stretching their holiday planning outside of traditional holiday seasons. This is a very good thing. The sooner we can recalibrate travel to being year-round, the better it will be for local economies desperate to sustain economic activity. And of course, evolving travel to be outside of traditional high density peak times and top-of-the-list destinations makes for a better travel experience for the visitors and the visited.

4. SUSTAINABILITY DELIVERED, NOT JUST DISCUSSED: In conference halls, meeting rooms, virtual meetings, and a myriad of other ways and means of discussing and debating the future of our global industry, the most talked about issue has been ‘sustainability’. Every leader, everywhere, has been vocal about sustainability being critical to economies, communities, cultures and environments worldwide. They are talking, talking, talking and talking – but where is the action? The travel sector continues to move at varying speeds when it comes to looking at what can be done to address the imperative of sustainability. What does all this mean for travellers? They are growing impatient. They want to see delivery, not press releases or policy or people on stages, or empty promises. The travel industry is hearing their frustration. Ideas are being tested, investments are being made. In 2023 and beyond, travellers will be doing their research to be able to make informed decisions on travel that aligns to their own personal sustainability commitments. We as an industry must be ready to help them fulfil their dream of making travel matter.

5. THE JOY OF THE JOURNEY: As travellers look for ways to be more eco-friendly, less costly, less at risk of disruption, and more conscious of their carbon footprint, the beauty of train travel is re-emerging. Similarly, the value and ease of touring is being rediscovered. This is wonderful on both accounts. We all know that train travel was always seen as the poor cousin of air, and that there’s been snobbery around touring for decades. The convenience of being able to just go and discover the soul of a destination, without a worry, with incredible comfort and beauty of in-depth experience, and with a greater sense of control, has never been greater. We are seeing this in our booking numbers that are at an all-time high – with 76% of guests new to brand, coupled with the continued highest industry repeat rate. Travellers are making smarter, new world travel choices where they can travel with confidence and complete ease, making touring the most relevant way to explore once more in this new, exciting world.

6. THE RENNAISSANCE OF THE TRAVEL AGENT: As travel reopens more widely, and uncertainties endure, the relevancy and need for an outstanding travel agent will be essential for fulfilling travellers’ dreams. The imperative of having an expert who will ask the right questions, research every option to meet distinct travel needs, and then select the right suppliers, has never been more relevant. And if anything should go array, their ability to lessen the stress and time of adapting and changing bookings to the right possible variations is priceless.

7. BLEISURE IS BACK, BIGGER THAN EVER: After over two years of people successfully working from anywhere, and being encouraged to value their me-time, ‘bleisure’ is back, and it’s on steroids. We ourselves experimented with enabling our team to add working from anywhere to their holiday plans. The response has been huge, and hugely successful. As technology and work from anywhere policies become normalised in the workplace, workers across the world will settle into an increasingly acceptable and easily do-able nomadic lifestyle, blending holidays with their work. Expect workers to not only spend extended time with friends and family, but extend the invitation to their loved ones to join them before and/or after their work is done. It’s a win:win for everyone.

8. TECH AND TOUCH IN TANDEM: AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) – this incredible IT is becoming a daily reality. Everyone’s talking about it, but not everyone is convinced about doing it. Why all the AR and VR discussion and confusion? Because not everyone is clear how it fits into their reality. And some are even concerned that AR and VR are a very real threat. The opportunities in AR and VR are, however, immense, if utilised to immensely enhance the experience of travellers right through the travel experience journey, from pre-travel inspiration to post-travel remembering and sharing. No reality will be as enriching, empowering, educating and touching than actually being in the destination, being with local communities, being part of making travel matter for people and places worldwide. AR and VR are tools to enhance the ease and excitement of travellers to understand all that their physical travels can be for them. Technology is and will always be a tool enabling greater touch. Together technology and touch have the power to be the greatest of travelling companions.

9. JUST IN TIME: Gone are the days of long lead-times. Shorter booking windows will continue. Why? Two important reasons. First, the past two years of living online have reduced our patience for waiting. We want to be where we want to be, doing what we want to do, now. And without question we can, through our keyboards, find someone in the world, somewhere, who can make it happen in seconds. Second, we have become highly alert to barriers to travel outside of our control – flight cancellations, new health regulations, border restrictions, unexpected positive test results. The closer one books to travel the farther away they can keep disappointment. While this can create huge challenges for us as an industry, it also offers huge possibilities as we can offer planning flexibility and creativity in our offers like never before. ‘Just in time’ can be just the thing we need to ensure sustained momentum through the year, and to support our ‘seasonal silver linings’.

And so we begin an exciting new chapter in all our travel lives, right across all our businesses and brands, as we enter the ‘next normal’. This time is ours to bring to life, and lives, all the joy of travel.

Join me on what I am absolutely sure will be an incredible adventure for us all.

A new year. A new start in 2023. Together, let’s embrace the opportunity.

POKEMAN GO – CELEBRATING THE JOY OF DISCOVERY?

/ Gavin Tollman / 1 Comment

There is a singular word for it – ‘phenomenon’.

Within days of its launch, everywhere across the globe, downloads took place by the millions. It felt like the world was suddenly taken over by those in the know and on the go, leaving the rest of us rather perplexed.

Pokemon go

Outside my flat in Geneva I saw them daily – mobile phone gawkers, walking, eyes glued to their screens, oblivious to those around them. I couldn’t understand it. Then I learned it was all about Pokémon Go. A new game in which players Travel between the real world and the virtual world as they find and save Pokémon characters.

The game may be a play on reality, but the headlines about its impact were very real. According to Fortune magazine, within 3 days it had become the biggest mobile game in US’s history, adding US$ 7.5B to Nintendo’s bottom line, and completely reenergizing the company. The stats amazed me as much as the craze. Nintendo’s share price rose just over 9% when the game was first launched, and then saw a further surge of 24.5%, representing the company’s highest one-day climb since 1983.

So, seeing that I needed to get in the know and onto Pokémon Go to really understand what was behind the hysteria, I downloaded the App and there, immediately, was the answer – I have two Pokémon within 100 meters of my home.Pokemon Go modified

Pokémon is nothing new – the video game was first launched in 1996 and needless to say kids became hooked, spending hours playing it. This time around, however, Nintendo has licensed this to an App developer that has made it interactive as you need to get out and find these hidden characters, and they have made it multigenerational – every one of every age is getting hooked. The aim is to get outdoors and search your surroundings for little beings called Pokémon.

I must confess that initially I was anti-Pokémon Go. From the outside it looked as though it was the next level of mobile impoliteness. More people glued to their mobile phones, ignoring people and places right in front of them.

But then, as I thought about it, something very commendable about the game occurred to me: this App is getting people out of their homes and into the streets. People are getting outdoors and exploring the world around them. The App’s developers have purposely included iconic landmarks along with lesser-known places that players visit on their journey. People of all ages are getting off their sofas and starting to discover their environments, often seeing new things that have been around the corner all along, but they didn’t know existed. They are also meeting new people with a shared interest and excitement for local discovery. Less than a month since its launch, Pokémon Go is now so ubiquitous that I read that coffee shops and police stations have designated themselves ‘Pokestops’ in hopes of attracting new visitors. Museums and art installations are jumping on the bandwagon, encouraging players to visit their locations to catch rare Pokémon while taking in the destination’s tourist sites.

Speaking to Pokémon Go players in my neighborhood, I learnt that they themselves have discovered unexpected sculptures (we have wonderful art in the city of Geneva), stunning architecture, little known paths that they have been living alongside all of this time, but never paid attention to.

Interestingly, this reawakening of wonder in the world around us sounds very familiar to how we at Trafalgar put our trips together for our guests – finding special local spots alongside the icons, encouraging exploration. It was a good feeling knowing that the essence of our approach to travel is still alive and well, even if its latest manifestation is in an augmented reality form.

Because the enduring truism is this: we humans are wired for adventure. While we may have firmly set comfort zones – where we live, our habits, still we seek newness of thinking, of doing, and of being. Travel allows us these little windows into discovery, a way to venture out of our comfort zones to become exposed to other worlds, and other sides of ourselves when placed in these new environments. With this learning comes freshness of perspective of not just the world around us, but of ourselves and our place in the world. At its simplest yet most profound form, this is the gift of travel.

In many ways, the hunger for discovery that Pokémon Go is creating in game players can, and I hope will, ignite in these same people a desire to go out and seek more of their real world – the one without the hidden Pokémon.

Which is why, returning back to the real world of augmented reality coming to life around me, I accept that at this first stage Pokémon Go players may all be walking with their eyes glued to their screens. But does that matter? The intrinsic benefit is that millions of people are getting out and seeing the world around them.

Technology has already been harnessed for travel. Now travel is harnessing technology. The joy of ‘Go’ is ours to be embraced, in whichever world we choose to play.