The Year of the Rise of Experiential, Bleisure and Solo Millennial Travellers
The travel bucket lists are sure to be thrown out of the window this year. 2015 was a landmark year in the travel industry with travel portals catering to the atypical customers looking for a new experience coming to the fore. The rise of Airbnb among a host of other such options in the marketplace has suddenly opened up the world to the customers unlike ever before in the travel world.
The trend is set to catch on further this year with the rise of the experiential and bleisure travellers from all over the world. Most importantly, with the Millennials turning a corner this year, the phenomena of solo travelling is also set to catch on further. Personal health initiatives have continued to gain momentum and hence, 2016 is all set to see more travellers setting out to cater to their wellness and lifestyle needs.
The rise of the ‘Experiential’ traveller
Travelers want to get a real flavour for a place. Millennials, are inclining to trips that revolve around interpersonal exchanges, and don’t worry about checking famous sights off a bucket list. “People, especially young people, appreciate and prefer experiential travel, by which I mean having a unique experience rather than just going to the landmarks, experiencing a destination like a local, or seeking a secondary city as a destination” Paul Kao, CEO of Tripverse.com says. Moreover, experiencing a new destination and taking ion the local culture and customs adds to their social media repertoire.
The change in travel mind-set of the Millennials
According to a survey by Topdeck Travel, the younger generation is no longer seeking a party-animal atmosphere when traveling, and instead wants to fully immerse themselves into new cultures, and feast on local cuisine. Of the group surveyed, experiencing a new culture (86%) and eating local foods (69%) were listed as common determining factors for motivating people to travel — ahead of partying (44%) and shopping (28%). The change in the millennial mind-set is all set to affect the travel world with farther off places like Peru, Vietnam and Cambodia featuring higher on their to-do lists rather than the more commercial ones.
The rise of “Bleisure” travel
Mixing business and pleasure has never been more popular. Gone are the days when the business traveller would leave his flight and then check into a hotel, attend a conference and take the next flight back home. It’s turning out to be more about them willing to wait for a few days to check out the city and its sights and then head back home. “Bleisure” was never this fun for such professionals.
Wellness Travel becoming a rage
Wellness travel is growing 50% faster than regular travel, according to a recent survey performed by the Global Wellness Summit. Personal health initiatives have continued to gain momentum and hence, 2016 is all set to see more travellers setting out to cater to their wellness and lifestyle needs. Now there’s a growing movement to change travel to include healthy activities and options.
The continued eagerness for Space and supersonic travel
Travel search engine Kayak has begun accepting reservations for flights from XCOR Space Expeditions. The company’s Lynx space plane will be taking travellers into the suborbital space very soon. Meanwhile, a start-up backed by Sir Richard Branson is trying to bring back supersonic air travel at an affordable price. We are talking about the first supersonic jet people can afford to fly,” Blake Scholl, the founder and CEO of Boom, told The Guardian. So, there are realistic options for the passengers in the near future.
Flexible and no checkout times at hotel
This has been a major concern of customers worldwide. After decades of travellers getting fed-up with rigid check-in and check-out times, hotels are finally set to change their rigid structures. According to the New York Times, hotel groups like Peninsula, Patina and Yotel are experimenting with flexible checkout policies to allow guests more breathing space in their itineraries. Fixed hotel check out times are all set to leave the window with portals like Airbnb making it comfortable for the passengers to select alternative options of accommodation with ease.
Cheaper flights
Record low oil prices and more competition from international carriers will result in cheaper flights this year. More low-cost carriers are poised to expand operations, resulting in good news for the air travellers. But, this comes with a caution as the airlines generally tend to charge elsewhere.
Complete holiday packages becoming mainstream
Travel startups like HolidayMe are among the select few helping the customer plan their holidays seamlessly in advance. Each stage of the journey can be immaculately organized – flights, transfers, hotels, activities, experiences all at one go, providing a thorough platform for the customer.
Business travel spending set to rise in Europe
Top European nations like Germany, Britain, France, Spain and Italy are expected to see a rise in the business travel spend. Business travel bounced back in 2014 after a lull and is expected to rise by 6.3 per cent in 2016, a study by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) said.
Messaging Apps With Travel Agents Are the ‘It’ Thing for Travel Start-up World in 2016
Messaging apps have become huge throughout the world, but a wide swath of consumers want travel agents incorporated in messaging apps. This is something that a lot of start-ups like Hyper Travel among others are also looking to offer, too. Travel agent intervention in their messaging apps is one of the top things to look forward to this year.
