04 Jan 2010, Posted by Peter in Duo Menu, Travel, 11 Comments

Tourism and 2010 – What’s coming?

In 2009 I heard so much talk about tourism being an elected excess and not a necessity. It was a pretty interesting year for the industry with the global economic crisis bringing some predictable and not-so-predictable trends to the field. It seems that there was a general increase in domestic tourism, visiting countries closer to home, VFR (visiting friends and relatives), and basically a focus on ‘budget travel’. These are however the trends we were exposed to frequently due to the impact of the crisis. Looking a bit deeper we would also see a growth in faith tourism, an increase of travelers to Africa, a growing focus on responsible travel, and, of course, major advancements of online travel tools.

So what can we look forward to in 2010? Here’s my five cents worth:

General

Finding the fun

Consumers will look for fun destinations allowing them to escape from the economic pressures of the work environment.

Airlines

increased focus and growth of low cost carriers with consumers look for affordable ways of reaching destinations and having more disposable income to spend when they are there

Value for money

Food and drinking experiences and value for money will be important factors for selecting destinations – consumers want to indulge and have a good time but are looking for excellent value.

Trips

African Inbound Madness

The 2010 Soccer World Cup hosted by South Africa will continue bringing a massive influx of travelers to the continent.

Poorism

Slumming… Township Tourism… call it what you will. This form of tourism has fired up some serious disagreement between those seeing it as a way of engaging tourism positively to financially aid poor communities, and those who see it as an invasion of privacy. Either way, between traveler’s growing need to gain ‘real-life’ experiences and the industry’s strong focus on poverty relief, this concept should show ongoing growth in the new decade.

Green Everything

Besides booking green accommodation, travelers are gaining more and more access to culturally and environmentally sustainable tours, transports and activities (a number of green travel products are also available online and on the shelves). My guess is that in 2010 more travelers’ perception of ‘green travel’ will shift from rough and niche, to necessary and trendy.

Packaged Personally

Given the economic pressures and random security threats facing our world more consumers are looking for that safe and all-inclusive travel opportunity.  No wonder cruise ships and trips are becoming bigger, longer and fully booked despite the economic challenges.

Traveler Profile

*Even* more selective

Yes my friends, I am afraid what I am saying is that travelers will become more selective and picky before and during their trips in the year to come. An exciting challenge for marketers, and absolute nightmare for those still lacking service quality. Have a looksy at this post (via Geekdad).

*Even* more lazy

With real-time information and the opinions of others at their fingertips, travelers will engage less in their own primary travel research. Another reason to become actively involved in social media.

Virtual

Aside from accepting advice online, more travelers will engage in creating, rating, and posting personal travel content online.

Tech

Mobile

More apps, more maps, more mobile. Don’t forget the anticipated Nexus One and possible iSlate.

Packaging info in a whole new way

With media and written content being distributed electronically, we should see some awesome digitally packaged travel kits. The best I have seen so far is the Complete National Geographic on 160-GB Hard Drive.

Design

Virtual tours

Looking at sites like 360cities, it comes as no surprise that virtual tours and panoramic images are becoming more popular amongst marketers and DMO’s for replacing online image galleries by combining visual with factual information. Since this is quite new on the map, I am excited to see what role it will play in tourism marketing in 2010 and onwards.

Improved design standards among SMME’s

As more small hospitality establishments are investing in a new online presence (as a means of keeping up with technological growth and online booking opportunities), many of them will (hopefully) combine this with a rebranding process if necessary. Maybe we can finally break away from the luminous neon palm tree travel logos from the 80’s and 90’s.

Conclusion: tourists in search of fun places, sociable spaces, low carbon traces, local faces, soccer aces, slow paces.