global travel trends 2013
TRANSCRIPT
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 1
Global Travel Trends 2013
Carl J. Miller
Florida International University
7/27/2013
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 2
Abstract
The world is constantly changing and the travel industry is no different. As the world gets more
connected, travelers will be going to new places and more of them will be out there. The goal of
this research is to highlight current travel trends in 2013 and find out why they are so important.
In order to do this, I looked at five travel trends lists for 2013 – one general travel, two leisure
travel, and two business travel – and highlighted items which overlapped. The overlapping issues
were all over the map so I grouped them together in four categories: Technology, Transportation,
Accommodation, and Destinations. There were some trends which applied to everyone but others
were geared towards either leisure travelers or business travelers. In my final step, I sorted the
categorized issues and assigned them to the group of people they are affecting the most. The
purpose of the research is to give travelers a better idea of what to watch and prepare for as they
make their way around the world.
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Global Travel Trends 2013
I am an avid traveler and I love to get out and see the world. I chose this topic and
performed this research because it is very interesting to me. I have taken three trips so far this
year and have personally encountered some of these trends. I wanted to know why some of these
things are happening now.
I am not the only person who likes to travel. There are others who travel far more than I
and there are others who must travel as a result of their job. The world is getting more and more
connected, mostly thanks to the Internet. There are new countries making an impact on how the
world works and more people are going to new places than ever before. I live in the United
States but I wrote this paper with a global view in mind. However, all currency amounts listed
are in U.S. Dollars.
Literature Review
General Travel
I used skift.com’s “13 Trends That Will Define Travel in 2013” as the base line of
my research. This was the best general travel list I came across and it proved to be a great
starting point for me. The other articles and lists I used for my research were very complimentary
of this. This list has something for everyone and addressed a wide range of topics (Ali, Schaal, &
Shankman, 2013).
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Leisure Travel
The first article I used for leisure travel research was “Most Important Travel Trends of
2013” from travelandleisure.com (Travel + Leisure Staff, 2013). The second was “Top Travel
Trends for 2013” from independenttraveler.com (Hewitt, 2013). These lists shared some of the
same items as the skift.com list but were completely focused on leisure travelers. They helped
me determine which trends were the most important for leisure travelers.
Business Travel
The first list of business travel trends I used for my research was “Business Travel Trends
in 2013” from businessvibes.com (Business travel, 2013). The second resource of business
specific travel was not a list but an article which featured the results of an Airplus survey of
corporate travel managers (Prabu, 2013). I thought this was important because it tied into some
of the trends I already found and it was credible because the data reported came from real
professionals in the business travel industry.
Results
General Travel
Technology.
Mobile booking. The travel and hospitality industries are no longer strangers to electronic
commerce (e-commerce). Total online travel sales totaled $162.4 billion in 2012 (Internet travel,
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2013). But now, mobile commerce (m-commerce) has quickly developed into a major tool for
businesses to reach customers. Many people already have internet-ready mobile devices and
more plan on buying them. As of February 2012, over 50 percent of leisure travelers and 75
percent of business travelers had smartphones (Online travel, 2013). According to a 2013
Travelport survey of international leisure travelers, eighty-seven percent of respondents under
age 35 said they had or planned to own a smartphone within six months, and, eighty percent of
respondents aged 36-45 said the same (Horner, 2013).
The travel and hospitality industries are already benefitting from these mobile consumers.
A 2013 Adobe study found that, along with retail, the travel and hospitality industries were the
only industries to have over a combined twenty percent of smartphone and tablet internet traffic
– 10.9 percent of all smartphone internet traffic and 11.2 percent of all tablet internet traffic.
Google predicted hotel internet searches would go up 24 percent in 2013, with mobile internet
hotel searches increasing 68 percent and desktop internet hotel searches decreasing four percent
(Online travel, 2013).
These mobile users are not just searching, they are purchasing. Booking.com is a site
where travelers search for and purchase hotel rooms. They also have a mobile app available for
download which offers the same capabilities as their website, offering 290,000 hotel rooms in
180 countries. The app is available in 26 languages. By the end of 2012, the app had been
downloaded more than 20 million times and booking.com had made $3 billion worth of mobile
sales in 2012 alone. This was triple the amount of its mobile sales in 2011, $1 billion (Siwicki,
2013). EyeForTravel found that 20 percent of travel bookings made in the U.S. are done via a
mobile device. Expedia Media Solutions had a recent survey which revealed 80 percent of
smartphone users who booked a trip via that device would do so again. The number rose to 90
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percent for people who booked with a tablet (Online travel, 2013). Las Vegas is the most popular
destination for mobile booking with 32 percent of visitors arranging to go via their smartphone
or tablet. All destinations in the top ten in mobile booking are in the U.S., save Paris, which
came in at number nine (Laird, 2012).
Mobile booking is clearly changing travel behavior for all travelers. More and more
people are constantly connected to the internet via their mobile devices. Also, more people
around the world are starting to have disposable income for mobile devices and travel. The
results of this are already being shown in the numbers above. Travel and hospitality companies
are making it easy for customers to reach them, and customers are not shying away.
Price transparency and loss of brand loyalty. Price transparency is rising. There are so
many efficient avenues for travelers to search through to find the best price. One example is the
online travel booking site, kayak.com. Kayak.com is free to use and users are able to enter in
their trip preferences and get thousands of results and compare them with different websites.
Once the results are populated, the user can sort through them by price, departure time, or by a
number of other options. By using kayak.com, users feel comfortable knowing they have either
found the best deal or at least the best option that works for their schedule. In order to book,
kayak.com redirects the user to the actual supplier but this is a minor detail in the grand scheme
of things (About us, 2013). Another example is Trip Advisor’s website. Trip Advisor has reached
deals with numerous hotels in order to display room rates along with the user reviews that draw
people to the site (Online travel, 2013). These sources are a weapon for hotels since they can
display their rates where anyone can find them. However, this method has caused hotel rooms to
be treated as a commodity. Travelers now look and see only prices and how many stars each
hotel has. Brand names are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
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There is another website travelers can go to get the best deal. A new site called tingo.com
was started in 2012. This site works similarly to other online travel agent (OTA) sites in that
users enter their desired places and dates and book the hotel which suits them the best. However,
Tingo will automatically rebook the user’s reservation if someone else books an equivalent room
for the same date at a lower price. The user literally has to do nothing other than make the initial
reservation. The user gets charged the initial amount but a refund will be awarded to their credit
card after their stay (Thompson, 2012). This is an incredible service.
Hotels are not the only ones feeling the loss of brand loyalty. It is hitting airlines as well.
Airlines prices are all over the OTA’s just like hotel room prices are. However, some airlines are
shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to customer loyalty. In a recent study, IdeaWorks
Company requested over 7,000 rewards seats divided between 25 of the world’s leading airlines.
Some performed well but others did not. Delta and U.S. Airways tied for last place by having
only 36.5 percent of requests available (Carrington, Do, 2013). Some airlines view rewards seats
as taking up the space of paying customers so they don’t have many options available for
rewards. This possibly helps sales but it can leave some customers with a bad taste in their
mouths. A recent survey of 1,005 British citizens revealed that 40 percent do not intend to
redeem bonus miles (Carrington, Do, 2013).
With the abundance of information available to consumers, it is not surprising to see
travelers eschewing brand names and selecting the best price or most convenient option for their
schedule. Travelers will gladly take any savings they can get. Not only is all the information
available, but it is at their fingertips. These factors have given travelers the upper hand.
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In-flight Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi on flights is not in itself a brand new thing, but, it has historically
been available on very few flights and very expensive when it has been available.
However, things are starting to change. Routehappy is a company which monitors the
quality of flights and reports what they find on their website. Recently, Routehappy reported 38
percent of domestic U.S. flights offered Wi-Fi service. In terms of flight hours, Wi-Fi is
available on 44 percent of those same flights. This means that Wi-Fi service is more widely
available on longer flights. This is helpful for travelers since electronic devices are supposed to
be powered off during the takeoff and landing portions of the flight. For as bad as they are in
rewards offerings, Delta gets back in the good graces of travelers by offering the most Wi-Fi of
any major U.S. carrier – 65.5 percent (Mutzabaugh, 2013).
Wi-Fi is also becoming more affordable during flights. Passengers can buy an hour of
service for $1.50. Full day passes are available for $14. For business travelers who fly a lot, it
could be worthwhile to get a monthly membership with Gogo Inflight Internet for $49.95. Gogo
is the main provider of in-flight internet (Gogo, 2013).
In-flight Wi-Fi still has a ways to go in terms of availability and price but it is definitely
improving. Availability will probably never be great overall because it does not make much
sense to offer it on short flights as long as electronics must be powered off for the first and last
fifteen or so minutes. However, at its current rates, it is useful for business travelers who need to
work during flights. For a normal traveler, $1.50 is not a bad price to pay for an hour’s worth of
service. That is enough time to get something done or just kill an hour of flight time.
Transportation.
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Packed Flights. In 2012, U.S. flights were, on average, 82.8 percent full (83.2 percent on
domestic flights and 81.7 percent on international flights). From a historical perspective, the
average in 1997 was 70 percent and in 2004 it was 75 percent. Frontier was the most full U.S.
airline, operating at 89 percent of capacity. Virgin America had the most empty seats, operating
at 79 percent of capacity (McGee, 2013). These figures stand to rise for the summer travel season
in 2013. Domestic U.S. flights are projected to be 88 percent full, which averages out to about
2.3 million passengers a day. International travel on U.S. flights is due to be an all time high,
averaging 298,000 passengers per day in during the travel season in 2013(Maxon, 2013).
Airlines have been reducing the number of flights and adding seats in economy class
cabins so this figures to be a trend which will stay around for a while. This has some residual
effects as well. Packing more people onto planes is bound to cause frustration amongst travelers.
The boarding process will take longer since more people have to get on the plane and more bags
will need to be checked due to the already limited amount of space in the overhead bins. Also,
quarters will be close so people could easily become more uncomfortable in the economy
classes. There is not a lot travelers can do about this besides opt for other modes of transportation
or not go at all.
Accommodations.
Ancillary Fees. This is another trend all travelers are getting used to the hard way.
Ancillary fees are becoming the norm in the travel and hospitality industries. Airlines and hotels
are both charging extra fees for various services, some of which used to be included in the price
of a ticket or reservation.
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Major U.S. carriers have been able to add an extra $10-15 dollars of revenue per
passenger from fees. These fees include checked bags, flight changes, and cancelations. On the
extreme end, Spirit Airlines’ average fare was $79.09 and the average fees per passenger was
$54.75 in the first quarter of 2013 (Maxon, 2013).
One way for travelers to fight the fees is to ship bags they know they will have to check.
Recently, Airfarewatch found United Airlines charges $100 to check a bag between 51-70
pounds, $200 for bags weighing 71-99.9 pounds, and up to $400 to check bags on international
flights. For comparison, UPS ground shipment of an 85 pound box from Los Angeles to New
York takes a few days and costs about $100 (Jones, 2013). This can be a good alternative but it
requires extra planning ahead. Sometimes it is just easier to have your stuff with you but this
could be very helpful if traveling with children.
Hotels are reaping the benefits of ancillary fees as well. NYU reported the major U.S.
hotel chains made a combined $1.95 billion from additional fees in 2012. A number of industry
experts revealed the most prominent fees hotels use: resort fees, parking fees, charging for
internet usage, early check in and checkout fees, cancellation fees, mini-bar restocking fees, gym
charges, and included gratuity for the housekeeping staff (in no particular order) (Berry, 2013).
With all of those fees it becomes easy to see how the hotels made so much extra money off of
guests. Some of those are not new but charging for restocking the mini-bar and automatic
charges for housekeeping tips are pushing the limits. It should be noted that not all hotels charge
all of these fees. Resort fees often cover things like internet and gym access.
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Alternatives to hotels. Travelers do have ways of getting around the ancillary fees hotels
impose on them. They do not have to stay in hotels. There are an increasing number of
alternatives.
Companies such as Airbnb.com, Portico, and Inspirato provide these alternatives.
Airbnb.com started a few years ago as a website on which travelers could find people willing to
let them sleep on their couch or use a spare bedroom. Airbnb.com has become more refined as
they now post whole apartments available for rent. Portico and Inspirato are companies who
charge high membership fees but members are able to get private condos and hotel villas well
below market prices. Concierge and housekeeping services are included with these rentals. Each
of these companies have listings all over the world (Travel + Leisure Staff, 2013). Portico and
Inspirato are similar to time share companies but the places members rent are one time only use
instead of a repeated block of time at the same place.
New York City has already been a hotbed for hotel alternatives. Hotel prices are
extremely high in Manhattan so business travelers who frequently travel to the city have started
to rent apartments or even buy second homes. Leisure travelers have started to rent apartments as
well. Many say the price of renting apartments is cheaper or at least similar to staying in area
hotels. They also say renting apartments gives them a better feel for the city and they enjoy the
extra space they get by having their own kitchen and living space (Travel Advice, 2013).
Reliance on peer reviews. A joint study by SAS and Penn State University found a
number of key facts regarding user generated content and hotel bookings. The study found
consumers determine quality by reading reviews of past guests, not by looking at price. Reviews
left by past guests were determined to be much more influential to shoppers than ratings systems.
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This was supported by the last key finding from the study. Price reductions proved to be an
ineffective way for hotels to respond to negative reviews (Consumer reviews, 2013). Europeans
are very reliant on user reviews. PhoCusWright found that 21 percent of French and German
travelers visited travel review websites in 2011, up from only seven percent in 2010. An
EyeForTravel survey found that 57 percent of Dutch travelers were influenced to make
reservations based on peer reviews (Online travel, 2013).
Hotels are very aware of this consumer behavior. As of December 2012, over 500
hospitality companies were displaying linked user generated content from Trip Advisor (Online
travel, 2013). This is good business. It shows hotels know this is more than a trend. They know
where their money comes from and they are adapting their strategies to cater to what customers
want to see.
New Airport Features. Skyscanner conducted a recent survey in which respondents were
told to name the features they would most like to see added to airports. The top ten responses
were: cinema, sleep pods, library, park, vanity areas, kids play areas, swimming pool, workout
facilities, man-made beach, and bicycles (Relaxnews, 2013).
Those respondents’ dreams are already coming true. The largest IMAX theatre in Hong
Kong resides in Hong Kong International Airport (Wong, 2012). The international airport in
Singapore also has a movie theatre, as well as, a rooftop garden, a swimming pool and Jacuzzi,
complimentary foot massages, an Xbox 360 entertainment deck, and a playground. The airports
in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have installed sleep pods for weary travelers (Relaxnews, 2013). These
are great features to have available for people who have long layovers. Travelers can expect to
see more of these and other features added to other airports all around the world.
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Destinations.
China –Inbound. Over 135 million people took tourist trips to mainland China in 2011.
Of those 135 million, 27 million were foreign tourists. South Koreans were the largest number or
foreign visitors with 4.2 million visits. Tourists from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan were not
included in the foreign tally (China inbound, n.d.). China had already become the world’s third
most popular destination for foreign tourists in 2010 and it is predicted to have the most foreign
tourists of any country in 2015 (Relaxnews, 2011). China is predicted to attract the most business
travelers even sooner, in 2014. The Beijing Capital International Airport is expected to overtake
Atlanta as the world’s busiest airport in 2014 (Aviation, 2013).
The Chinese hospitality industry already has expansions in the works in order to be able
to handle the increase in tourists and business travelers. Two American hotel companies have
revealed plans for massive expansions in China. Starwood Hotels plans to add 100 new hotels
and Marriott plans to at least double their current amount of 54 (Aviation, 2013).
China – Outbound. The Chinese are as eager to see the world as the world is to see
China. In 2011, Chinese citizens went on 70 million trips. Though most of those were day trips
within country, the Chinese still spent the third most money on international travel, $72 billion.
They trailed only Germany and the United States. Other Asian countries, Australia, and Europe
were the most popular destinations (Branigan, 2012). However, that same year China did send a
record 1.2 million travelers to the U. S. Of those 1.2 million, 30 percent were business travelers
and the rest either came for vacation or to visit other family members. To put the 1.2 million
Chinese visitors into perspective, that total is up 438 percent from the total from 2004
(McDonald, 2012).
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The outbound tourism spending is no doubt impressive but China’s spending on
outbound business travel is even larger. In 2013, the projected total of this is $226 billion. The
government reforms on economy over the last decade have opened the door for China to become
the most influential player in the global economy. The people of China are ready to do business
and the world is ready work with them.
China and its people are no longer coming; they are here, no matter where “here” is.
Leisure Travel
Technology.
Mobile map apps. Leisure travelers have forever relied on maps to find their way in new
places. The rise in aforementioned smartphones and tablets has changed the way tourists use
maps. Instead of going through the hassle of unfolding a paper map, trying to find their location,
figuring out directions, and folding the map back up, now they are able to pull out their mobile
device and use a digital map app with GPS location. There are many options for travelers to
choose from.
Google Maps is the gold standard of mobile map apps. It is based on real time satellite
GPS location. It offers voice navigated directions for driving, walking, biking, or city
transportation. A user can search for nearby points of interest, such as restaurants. The
restaurants that populate come with Zagat ratings so users can make informed decisions about
where to go. It offers street view, indoor maps of large buildings, and 3D capabilities. It needs
internet access to run but if a user knows they will be without service, they can download
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specific maps of their choosing and save them to use when they do not have internet service
(Google, 2013).
Google Maps is helpful for tourists but it is designed for everyday use no matter if you
are at home or away. There are a multitude of other mobile map apps that specifically aid
tourists. Time Out is another location based app similar to Google Maps. However, the app is
downloaded for specific cities and comes with tabs for users to check on restaurants, bars,
theatres, and tourist sites. The app gives reviews from other users about each point of interest.
Time Out is available for 60 cities worldwide and is available in 11 different languages (Time
out, 2013). Another mobile map app geared towards tourists is mtrip. It is another city-specific
app. The allure of mtrip for a tourist is its itinerary functions. A user can enter in the places they
want to go and the app will make the most time efficient itinerary in terms of getting to and from
each destination. If the user is feeling more adventurous, they can enter preferences into the app
and the app will make an itinerary for them. The app works offline except if the user wants to
share photos or reviews online (Intelligent travel, 2013).
These apps would be useful for business travelers as well but the research indicated they
were designed for leisure travelers.
Transportation.
New forms of vehicle rental. Most travelers get easily frustrated with the process of
renting cars. Sometimes the rental company does not have the supposedly reserved type of car
available and they always have to put up with the upgrade sales pitch. After they get the car, they
have to find their way around a new place, and possibly, learn new traffic laws.
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Fortunately, there are new forms of vehicle rental which eliminate some of those
problems. Major car rental company Hertz is trying out a new ‘24/7’ rental program this
summer. Hertz has enabled tourists from Middle Eastern countries to apply for a 24/7 card which
allows them to access around the world. Users reserve a car online through their account. They
put credits on their card and the card also locks and unlocks the car they rented. The 24/7 system
is a pay-as-you-go system so users pay for the amount of time they have the car. They are able to
use the car as long as they need once they have made a reservation. Hertz plans on expanding the
24/7 system to 35,000 vehicles in 2,000 locations after this very large beta test (Koumelis, 2013).
The Hertz 24/7 program is very similar to the business model of a company called Zipcar.
Zipcar has a similar system with online reservations and user cards which lock and unlock the
cars. The differences between Hertz’s 24/7 program and the Zipcar business model are
membership fees and shorter rental periods. Zipcar charges a monthly membership fee and users
can only rent the cars for a maximum of seven days. Zipcars are available in the Spain, United
Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. Like the Hertz 24/7 program, there are no specific pick up and
drop off locations. Users find the car at the time of reservation and leave it in a legal parking spot
when they are finished (zipcar, 2013).
One other alternative form of vehicle rental is renting another person’s vehicle.
Getaround is a peer to peer car sharing company. Providers are able to list their cars, when they
are available, and at what rate they charge. Drivers also register in the Getaround system and
select the vehicle they need. The provider and the driver agree on the duration of the rental. They
are able to rate each other in the Getaround system after the transaction has taken place
(Getaround, 2013). This system seems more suited to area locals who need a car for a big
grocery store trip or a weekend getaway than to tourists but it is another option.
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Accommodations.
Pop-up hotels. Pop-up hotels are temporary hotels. They are easy to set up and transport
and they are usually based around events. They can be anywhere – tents in a field, large cargo
boxes stacked wherever there is room, or transformed office space in an unused building. They
come with some of the same concierge and housekeeping services as standard hotels and they
stay in one place only as long as they are needed. A good example is the Glastonbury music
festival in the U.K. This is an extremely popular outdoor summer music festival. Tents were set
up as pop-up hotels and visitors could stay on site. This saved them from worrying about
transportation to and from the festival (Carrington, Pop-up, 2013).
Guests usually pay a premium for staying in pop-up hotels due to unmatched locations.
However, there are economical options too if the only desire is a place to sleep. Pop-up hotels
often do not have a specific time frame for staying in one place; they stay as long as there are
people willing to stay with them (Jana, 2012).
Destinations.
Film tourism. Traveling to movie filming sites used to be more of a novelty than big
business. Then Lord of the Rings happened. The film franchise nearly doubled New Zealand’s
tourism revenue from about $3 billion in 1999 to almost $6 billion in 2011 (Mayo, 2013).
Scotland is hoping the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, will have the same effect.
There were extensive scenes in the movie which featured Scotland’s beautiful, mysterious
Highlands. Behind momentum from Skyfall, CNN named Scotland as the top travel destination
for 2013. Skyfall was released all over the world so everyone who saw the movie got a glimpse
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of what Scotland is like (Lazarus, 2013). There are other reasons to go to Scotland in 2013, such
as, The Open Championship of golf, played at Muirfield, the first organized golf club in the
world. But, Scotland would not have been named CNN’s top travel spot without the swagger of
James Bond and the showcased scenery in Skyfall.
The state of Virginia is hoping to capitalize on Best Picture nominee, Lincoln. President
Lincoln spent considerable time in Richmond shortly before his death and much of the movie
was filmed there. The state has set up an online self-guided tour of the movie and Lincoln’s life.
“Lincoln Was Here” symbols have been placed on historical and film sites. Tourists are
encouraged to basically walk in Lincoln’s shoes while taking the tour (Johanson, 2012). The
movie, Lincoln, was critically acclaimed and Virginia is banking on the movie inspiring people
to come visit. Even though the Gettysburg Address was given in Pennsylvania, it can only help
Virginia’s efforts that 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of that speech.
Film tourism is not limited to big box offices hits. The HBO television series Game of
Thrones is also producing large film tourism revenues. HBO has set up a traveling exhibit of
Game of Thrones props and costumes used in the show. The exhibit is going to be opened in
various locations in the U.S., Europe, and Brazil. Viator, a San Francisco based tour company,
has established walking tours at film sites in Croatia and Northern Ireland (Mayo, 2013).
The results of being one of the homes of Game of Thrones has been especially beneficial
for Northern Ireland. The city of Belfast has a long history of conflict and violence amongst its
own citizens. Relations between the Catholics and the Protestants have been so bad a wall
divides the city that has stood longer than the Berlin Wall did. Relations are getting better and,
unintentionally, Game of Thrones has aided that effort. Very few tourists visited Belfast so it was
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 19
isolated from the world. Now, people are coming and the locals are proud to show off their home
to those who visit. Belfast and a lot of Northern Ireland have seen an influx of tourism money
come in. Prosperity is helping people forget about their differences. Game of Thrones is not a
cure all but the people are proud to be a part of something positive like a hit TV show and some
of them even get to be in it as extras (Rosenbloom, 2013).
Myanmar. Not long ago, Myanmar (Burma) was a country that was closed off to the
world. The country has a dark history of human rights violations, most notably genocide. Until
recent political reforms within the country most nations banned their citizens from visiting
Myanmar (Burma).
However, Myanmar is quickly changing its ways and opening up to the world. The world
is following suit and opening up to Myanmar. Over one million people visited Myanmar in 2012.
Tourist arrivals are expected to increase by another 30 percent in 2013. The total amount of
international flight seats to Myanmar was 51,000 in April of 2012. That number grew to 81,000
in January of 2013, a 59 percent increase in only nine months. Yangon International Airport has
a project underway to double the capacity of passengers per year to 5.5 million (Than, 2013).
Myanmar is very quickly turning into a desired place to travel. Largely, it is a place most
people have not seen or been to so there is a lot of intrigue in going there. If the country keeps up
with their reforms, Myanmar should be one of the tourist hot spots by the end of the decade.
Business Travel
Technology.
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 20
Rogue travelers and mobile booking. Rogue travelers, also called “unmanaged”
travelers, are business travelers who book travel arrangements outside of their company’s
policies or pre-negotiated rates (Mayock, 2012). They are able to re-coup the money they spend
on trips by including the costs in expense reports they get reimbursed for.
AirPlus International released the results of a survey given to 2,100 corporate travel
managers from 24 countries in early 2013. Eighty-two percent of respondents confirmed their
companies have business travel policies in place, 72% of which cover all aspects of travel
(flights, hotels, ground transportation, etc.). The travel managers interviewed also confirmed that
many of the people who travel in their companies book trips using mobile devices – 19 percent
of Asian business travelers, 13 percent of North Americans, and nine percent of Latin Americans
and Western Europeans. Sixty-two percent of the travel managers said they did not see a benefit
in employees booking trips with mobile devices (Prabu, 2013). Rogue travelers are a travel
manager’s worst enemy and giving them a hand held device from which they can book travel
makes a travel manager’s job harder.
It is estimated that about 55 percent of business travelers have booked at least one rogue
trip. Business travelers go rogue for two reasons, convenience and price. Many times the hotels
included in the corporate policy are on the other side of town from their meeting or the flight
schedule of the airline the company has pre-negotiated rates with conflicts with their ideal
schedule. Other times, rogue travelers are just able to find a better price than what is offered
under company policy (Mayock 2012).
Since mobile bookings are on the rise in general, it can be safely assumed that the
number of business travelers who book trips via mobile devices will be a part of that rising
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 21
number. It is also a safe bet that the number of rogue travelers will increase. Or if not travelers,
the number of rogue trips will increase.
Hotels are aware of this growing group of travelers and some are starting to develop
marketing plans specifically aimed at capturing the business of rouge travelers (Mayock, 2012).
Transportation.
Low cost airlines. Low cost, or budget, airlines are simple in nature but they are good at
what they do. They offer reliable, safe transportation. They are not exciting but they are
effective. They are great at getting passengers from Point A to Point B. They typically offer
shorter flights so quality does not matter as much. They often to go some more remote places the
main carriers do not offer service to. Budget airlines are particularly good for business travelers
in Europe (Rigby, 2013).
European budget carrier Ryanair estimates that 22 percent of their passengers are
business travelers (AFP, 2013). One of their main competitors, EasyJet, estimates that 18 percent
of their passengers are business travelers (Reuters, 2012). EasyJet is making aggressive moves to
increase its share of the business traveler pool. They recently agreed to a number of deals with
different corporations. They are also offering Flexible Fares to business travelers. With these
Flexible Fares, business travelers can go through an expedited security line, are awarded priority
seating and boarding, and do not have to pay for date changes (AFP, 2013).
It is not surprising to see EasyJet making these moves. Major carriers are getting
expensive, even for business travelers, and travel budgets are going down so this has companies
looking at alternative transportation for their employees.
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 22
High speed trains. Rail companies are also competing for business travelers in Europe.
More high speed tracks are being laid and more routes are being approved. Most of the new
routes improve access to London via the channel tunnel. Specifically, Germany and Spain will
have new or increased high speed rail access to London via the channel tunnel.
It has been determined that a five hour train ride equates to a two hour flight once the
travel to and from the airport and the necessary earlier arrival time at the airport are figured into
equation. High speed trains are expensive in Europe but the advantages over flying are having
more space to relax or work, having a cloud-free view, not dealing with the hassles of airports,
and being green (O’Sullivan, 2013). In addition to those benefits, the Rail Europe website lists
other benefits for business travelers: no weather delays, access to more places (in general, not
necessarily high speed), and less commuting (10 reasons, n.d.). The commute is less because the
train stations are in the center of most European cities and the airports are on the outside of the
cities. This assumes the meetings or arrangements the business travelers have are in the middle
or downtown areas of the city, a reasonable assumption.
The Chinese also like skipping the hassles of the airport. China has the most high speed
train passengers in the world, averaging 1.3 million per day. In China, taking the train is cheaper
than flying and they also like being able to work during the entire duration of the ride. China
sees the value in their high speed trains and they have a $300 billion project in the works which
will give them a 15,000 mile high speed rail network by 2020 (Jiang, 2013).
The Japanese are also very dependent on their high speed rail system. However, new
budget airlines are attracting some passengers. Peach Airlines offers flights for $40 but so far
mostly caters to tourists. However, high speed rail providers have been cutting ticket costs.
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 23
Business travelers still prefer the high speed rail option to the budget airlines because there are so
many more available seats on the trains and trains are available throughout the day. The budget
airlines still have a very limited number or flights available (Cooper, 2013). It will be interesting
to see if the budget airlines continue to expand in Japan or if the people will stay loyal to the high
speed trains.
Accommodations.
Tech-friendly hotels. Business travelers need to stay connected, whether it is to the office
or family at home. With the growing sophistication of mobile devices, travelers can stay in touch
more easily than ever. Hotels need to find new ways of catering to these business travelers who
are becoming less reliant on them.
Marriott hotels are rolling out new implementations to attract business travelers. First,
Marriott has begun to offer remote check in. Guests can check in via a mobile device and use
that device as their room key. When they check in they can let the hotel know their estimated
arrival time and make any last minute requests. They are installing a Go Board information
center in the lobbies of their properties. This is basically a digital concierge which helps guests
find the gym area in the hotel or a good place to eat dinner. Marriott is offering Red Coat Direct
meeting services to business clients who host meetings. The Red Coat Direct service can do
anything the guest needs, from setting up a projector to bringing more coffee during the middle
of the meeting. They are also offering a program called WorkSpace On Demand which allows
people who are not guests at the hotel to host meetings in the hotel’s meeting space. Finally, and
maybe most importantly, Marriott is adding an adequate number of plug-ins for mobile device
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 24
chargers in rooms and public areas (Watkins, 2013). Marriott seems to be ahead of the
competition in finding new ways to attract business travelers.
Destinations.
Brazil. Brazil is about to take the world’s center stage this decade. Brazil is hosting the
FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. The country will be flooded
with fans and tourists but it is not all fun and games. These events also mean big business and
Brazil is looking to cash in on its opportunities.
Brazilian business travel spending has tripled since the year 2000 and could reach $35
billion in 2013 (Aviation, 2013). Domestic business travel spending has been increasing at an
average rate of 8.3 percent per year in that time frame and is forecast to grow 12.9 percent in
2013, to a total of $27 billion. International outbound business travel is predicted to grow over 20
percent in 2013, totaling over $7 billion (N.B., 2013).
I was not able to find any inbound business traveling figures. However, it is safe to say
Brazilians are not sitting on their hands waiting for people to come to them with business
opportunities. They are making moves and promoting their country and companies aggressively
in advance of the World Cup and Summer Olympics.
India. India is the last of the big three emerging countries to be mentioned in this report
(China, Brazil) though it should not be thought of as last. India’s economy and world presence
are growing at substantial rates and Indians as a people are helping their nation grow.
According to a yearly Accor Hotels business travel survey taken by business travelers
form all Asia-Pacific countries, Indian respondents averaged 14.6 business trips in the year 2011
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 25
(Garia, 2013). According to Amadeus-Frost & Sullivan, business travel is India’s strongest
growth sector of outbound travel (Salim, 2013).
Not only are Indian business people traveling but they are very desirable business
travelers. According to the 2012 version of the Accor survey, they average the third highest
nightly amount spent on accommodation at $133. Indians were the most likely people in the
survey to leave a review of a hotel. They also prefer to stay in the same places, provided they had
a good experience (Indian business, 2012).
Indian business travelers can be quite a boon to the economies of the places they do
business. They represent a strong growing economy but also are loyal patrons of the places they
stay. In general it seems wise to do business with Indians. Hotels would stand to do very well to
market to Indian business travelers.
Discussion
I really enjoyed doing the research for this paper. The world is a fascinating place and it
is challenging to keep up with what is going on.
The two trends which have impacted me the most so far in my travels this year have been
packed flights and ancillary fees. I have flown from MSP to Phoenix, Portland (OR), and Las
Vegas this year and it seemed as though there were more people on the flights but I did not look
into it at all until researching this paper. Thankfully I did not suffer from any of the residual
effects. I encountered resort fees at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I noticed it when I made the
booking so it was not a surprise but it was the first time I had encountered it.
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 26
Writing about the tourism destinations was a lot of fun. I went on a golf trip to Scotland
in August 2012 absolutely loved it. I was happy to see it was named CNN top travel destination
for 2013. I drove through the Highlands region so it was a pleasant surprise for me to see so
much of the scenery in Skyfall. I am also a Game of Thrones fan so it was fun to read more about
some of the locations where they film the show. I hope these on-screen entertainment giants truly
help bring in tourism revenue for these areas.
There were so many trends to choose from I could not include all of them. The biggest
omission was probably culinary tourism. One could write a whole book on travel trends and I did
not have the space or the time to write about everything.
I do feel this is a strong representation of what people will find when they go out and
travel the world in its current state. I also believe any traveler can be affected by at least one
thing mentioned in this report.
Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 27
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