Futuristic trends in tourism
A fortnight ago, we examined the outlook that global tourism presents in this New Year. As we close off the first month of 2023, let us look at projected specific trends by travel outfits such as Expedia and Conde Naste.
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Please note that these forms of tourism are futuristic and may not apply to your communities yet. They are worth discussing because some local markets are already experiencing some levels of them.
Travelling to film sets. We spent the best part of 2020 and 2021 glued to our screens, so it’s no surprise that our love for TV will be working its way into our travel plans for 2023. Next year, many travellers will take their favourite TV shows on tour, using stunning and interesting filming locations as a springboard for an exciting new holiday destination.
Recent data from Netflix revealed that 70 per cent of programmes watched by a typical Netflix user were filmed in a foreign setting, and the locations of chosen shows were frequently their favourite holiday spots. The idyllic sun-drenched filming locations of HBO sensation The White Lotus also look to have inspired guests seeking ultra-luxurious winter-sun escapes, with over 80 per cent of Scott Dunn Private members travelling to warm destinations this winter including Mexico, the Maldives, Oman, Australia and Barbados to name a few. According to Expedia data, films and series are more influential than social media when it comes to booking trips these days.
Is it a crypto world? Up until now the only way to pay for a trip, flight, or hotel stay was with “fiat” currencies such as dollars or pounds, points or air-miles, but thanks to technological innovations from the likes of Fintech companies such as Revolut and Hayvn, cryptocurrency owners are now able to redeem Bitcoin and Ether, for example, on holidays.
In the U.S., Insider Intelligence estimates that almost 13 per cent of the adult population now own at least one type of cryptocurrency and by the end of 2023, about 3.6 million people will be spending crypto (previously it was just about investing and trading). This is a huge opportunity for the travel and tourism industry to adapt to new shifts in consumer spending. In summer 2022, Soneva Resorts in Thailand and the Maldives began allowing guests to pay for stays in crypto. In the autumn, experiential travel and yachting company, Pelorus, began accepting cryptocurrency payments for overseas adventures.
Retreats that transform. The forces that motivate us to travel can be mapped on a triangle similar to Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”. After a year of travel for fun, relaxation, and reunion post-pandemic, 2023 will be the year we travel for personal betterment. Whether you are seeking to overcome grief, identify your life’s mission, or discover what your body is physically capable of, there will be a transformation retreat that caters to it.
Healing Holidays is a good place to start when it comes to planning as it aggregates retreats from around the world according to the kind of experience you might want to have.
Sexier Airports. As more travellers are figuring out ways to access airport lounges with credit cards or other memberships, airlines are trying harder than ever to distinguish their top-tier lounges as rarefied spaces.
Recent perks include a premium Champagne bar in British Airways and American Airlines' just-opened lounge in JFK, a Clarins spa offering facials and other treatments in Air France's business-class lounge also at JFK, as well as forthcoming Delta One lounges in New York and Los Angeles, clocking in at 36,000 square feet and exclusive to the airline's first-class customers.
Those in the upper echelons of airline elite status schemes or with the most premium credit cards will want to arrive at the airport early to take advantage of the perks, and these revamped lounges will also make layovers less of a nuisance for certain passengers.
However, as part of the lounge-reset process, travellers can expect to see airlines and credit card companies make the spaces more difficult to access throughout next year.
Watch out for modular hotels. The building parts are manufactured in a factory, flat-packed, and shipped to the destination to be assembled on-site. Not just a passing trend, the hotel group built its own factory in Mexico using 3D-printing technology, which can manufacture modular hotel parts, flat pack, ship, assemble on-site, and open for guests in under a year. Barely any foundation is poured, and instead of glitzy lobbies and heavy-handed structures, each hotel is built around trees, rocks and water. The effect taps into the growing trend for nature-based off-grid retreats which promise access to widescreen wilderness. Since Tulum, Habitas’ hotels have opened in far-flung locations around the world. The latest is in the Ashar Valley of Saudi Arabia and San Miguel de Allende’s countryside, with plans to unpack more retreats in 2023 in Mexico, Morocco, Costa Rica, Bhutan, and beyond, aiming for 10 to 12 hotels a year.
This form of construction is not only sustainable; the rising costs of building means this is far more cost-effective than traditional construction—and it is allowing Habitas to build its flat-pack hotel empire at breakneck speed.
