An interesting survey was done by Benchmark Hospitality International in order to identify the “Top Ten Travel Trends for 2014”. More than 20,000 professionals were provided a comprehensive survey on consumer and business travel predictions in 2014. An independent marketing research company was involved to provide detailed analysis of the results.
“The objective for this research study of travel professionals,” said Ted Davis, chief marketing and sales officer for Benchmark Hospitality International, “was to gain insights into current and anticipated travel trends and also solicit candid observations on how our company’s Personal Luxury and Benchmark Resorts collections can better serve the needs of the travel community”.
After such an extensive research, who can guess which top ten trends were pinpointed?
Some of them could be surprising, especially considering the existing economic recession. One of the first trends was a prediction of the strong growth in the travel industry. Eight out of ten travel agents predicted a ‘strong growth’. Not surprisingly the second trend was that leisure related holidays will grow in numbers. Worth noticing are the boundaries between business and personal travel which are no more so clearly distinguishable, since an increasing amount of people mingle these two aspects during their personal holidays.
The third trend is a serious threat for any travel agency. As technology improves, the number of direct bookings grow. Would that keep travel agents awake all night? Trend number four – as its name shows – is ‘hit the beach, see the world’ . This translates into a strong growth in domestic beach related holidays. It will be very interesting to see if this trend continues in 2014. Hotel features together with a proper location are also on the trend list, simultaneously showing how important it is to have a positive online presence. Online Travel Reviews phenomenon, which just started a few years back, is confirmed by agents to affect customer’s behavior.
‘Over 50% of travel agents surveyed – use these online reviews in determining booking decisions for their customers.’
Are the last 3 trends technology related? Apparently yes. One of them would be the preparation of a good website, then we have increasing of mobile apps and the ability to book online. In other words – hoteliers – be prepared to stand out from the online crowd!
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