Pretoria - You may be lucky enough to be going on holiday in the forthcoming weeks. Trip Barometer; The Psychology of Travel – Global (September 2014), by peer review site Tripadvisor, revealed some interesting insights into the motivation for travel, and the emotions behind it. It found that despite the many differences between one generation and another, we are all inspired to travel by very much the same things.
In fact, seven out of eight of the motivating factors identified were shared by millenials (those born from 1980) and retirees. What it boils down to is that people travel to enhance their perspective, to feel liberated and to immerse themselves in local culture.
Travel has never been so high on the agenda. A highly visual and connected landscape and reams of easily available – and often incidentally seen – information about travel means that today’s traveller is always dreaming of their next adventure.
Add to this picture the growth of low-cost airlines, the ease that technology has brought to the process of travel, and the shrinking globe and it’s no wonder that a third of the planet is now travelling.
It’s a percentage that is set to expand rapidly as the world’s middle-class population hurtles towards an additional 1.5 billion members by 2030. That’s one and a half billion more people who will want to travel.
The growth of the middle class is being compounded by an explosion of technology that is making it easier and more exciting to travel, while completely changing the expectations of travellers.
Today’s traveller researches intensely and subjectively (most often through peer review sites). Once a decision is made the traveller will interact with the destination and book their holiday online. The online landscape remains the dominant companion to the traveller – during, before and after they travel. The ITB World Travel Trends Report (2013/14) notes that the internet increased its dominance as a booking channel to 65 percent this year.
While mobile bookings are still relatively low, at 2 percent, mobile-obsessed millenials from new markets (particularly China and Brazil) are poised to change the shape of mobile booking and in-destination interaction. Put it this way: if there is a need there will be an app.
The new traveller wants to be immersed in their holiday while remaining connected with their social circle online. And they want to share it all. To do this the experience needs to be authentic.
Enter the sharing economy.
Born out of an economic sensitivity to the appropriate use of assets and resources during the global economic slump, this economy operates outside traditional playing fields by relying on technology and digital social connectivity. Travel has been a big win area for the collaborative economy, merging novelty, curiosity and hospitality to connect travellers with the everyday life of a destination.
At the extreme edge of this new travel trend is the “silent traveller”, a term coined by Skift.com to describe travellers who pass through a destination without visiting tourism authorities, taking tours or even staying in hotels.
The silent traveller uses sites like Wayn.com (at the time of writing 22 844 164 of their members were researching or sharing about travel), Tripadvisor and – according to the British Association of Travel Agents – 44 percent of them use Facebook and Twitter to do their homework. Once a destination is chosen, the Silent Traveller will “network in” to the social circle that exists in a destination. Using sites like tripbod.com (that appoints a local person as an unofficial guide) and dinewithalocal.co.za that hooks visitors up with locals who host them in their homes for dinner. In truth this is nothing new. Travellers of 100 years ago would have looked for a personal connection to a destination and then planned a trip based on these connections. This was a time before the tourism “business” had fully emerged. The big difference between then and now is that 100 years ago, the entire trip from planning to execution may have taken two years. Today it can happen in two weeks.
Some of the new travel channels and services are seen as disruptors. There have been mass protests by disgruntled taxi operators in Europe about mobile-activated taxi service Uber, and Air BnB is having a bumpy ride to legitimacy. And indeed legitimacy – and safety – is a big question mark when it comes to the, as yet under-regulated, sharing economy.
The sharing economy is by its very nature built on trust which makes it vulnerable to scams, criminals and deception. It is not without reason that tourism associations and the various endorsing agencies found in any destinations have been created. Mass market travellers need reassurance and a channel for reprisal – should things go wrong.
Since 2009, the volume of city trips has increased by 47 percent (ITB report) and much of this is as a result of the search for immersion.
The concept of a Shareable City is emerging as a future-forward model for integrating new economic modalities into the legal and economic structure of a city.
l Enver Duminy is the chief executive of Cape Town Tourism
Pretoria News