SITA’s Megatrends report indicates just how much travel will change
Meet the Megatrends, a new report from SITA, has confirmed what we all suspected about the shape of future travel.
The report examines 12 emerging technological, societal, traveller, and economic trends that will significantly change the travel landscape by 2033, urging industry, governments, and technology to adapt rapidly.
lkka Kivelä, VP Strategy and Innovation, SITA, shared, “The air transport industry is at a post-pandemic crossroads, facing challenges from all sides. While the travel recovery accelerates globally, airports and airlines are scrambling to provide the seamless travel experience passengers expect, often with slashed workforces and squeezed budgets.
“The climate crisis demands swifter and more decisive industry action to make travel more sustainable. We now have an opportunity to reimagine the world of travel, connect the dots and transform travel with bold solutions that cross sectors and exploit the latest technologies.”
One of the key trends identified in the report is Gen Z and millennial travellers driving a digital transformation of the transport industry, demanding a more integrated digital journey, and accelerating the digital way of life.
All you need to know about travel’s megatrends – thanks to SITA
Privacy, digital identity rights, and controls for passengers will be a priority for passengers opening the door to a future where people can travel from everywhere to anywhere without the need for physical documents or being stopped for identification.
Another prediction: Electric air vehicles are expected to be ubiquitous at major international airports by the end of the decade, operating as an effective auxiliary service and revenue stream for airports and airlines.
According to the report, by 2030 metaverse operations will be commonplace at leading airports and play a vital role in optimising processes, avoiding disruption, and facilitating intuitive, immersive control of intelligent airports.
The report was spearheaded by the SITA Lab innovation team and draws upon insights from across the transport industry, SITA’s global research, and the latest cutting-edge proof of concepts to identify the most powerful shifts that will drive the travel industry’s evolution by 2033.
Prince Harry is onboard with IATA
IATA and the Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex-founded travel and technology company, Travalyst, have joined forces with the aim of providing consumers with a consistent, accurate and widely available calculation of their carbon footprint from air travel.
The collaboration effort is expected to bring greater transparency, accuracy and consistency to how a traveller’s carbon footprint is calculated.
Founded by Prince Harry in 2019, Travalyst is a coalition of nine travel and technology companies: Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Skyscanner, Travelport, Trip.com Group, TripAdvisor and Visa.
As hotels get busy, satisfaction rates dip
The hotel industry is recovering quickly from the pandemic across most regions but a new report questions whether guest satisfaction is keeping pace with rising occupancy figures.
The answer is ‘No’ according to Review Pro, whose Q3 Global Hotel Review Benchmark report revealed that during the third quarter of 2022 guest satisfaction scores have not kept up with the recovery of the hotel industry.
ReviewPro – part of Shiji, the global hospitality technology innovator – analyses guest satisfaction scores based on 1.7 million real guest reviews across all star categories of hotel from all around the world.
The failure of guest satisfaction scores to recover is most evident in the ratings of two areas: value and room quality, particularly in the North American market.
Global satisfaction scores for value fell from 82.3% in 2019, to 81.6% in 2021, and come in at just 80.4% in the year-to-date 2022 period. The Middle East and Africa region being the only exception, currently exceeding 2019 guest satisfaction levels.
A whopper for Hopper on Travel Tuesday
More evidence of just how much pent-up travel demand is out there – and that’s even before China starts moving again.
In the US, travel booking app Hopper surpassed pre-pandemic booking records for all travel categories including flights, hotels,rental cars and homes during the Travel Deal Tuesday that followed the Thanksgiving holiday period.
Ahead of the annual shopping holiday, Hopper signed more than 70 travel partners, including airlines, hotels, car rental companies and DMOs to provide additional discounts.
The result?
- Hopper averaged one booking per second on Travel Deal Tuesday and during peak times it was two bookings per second.
- Despite discounts, hotels saw more valuable bookings – lengths of stay increased by 35% and average order value increased by 80%.
- Hopper ranked #1 in the travel chart in the App Store and #27 in the overall apps chart – with 150K new installs and millions of app launches over the course of Travel Deal Tuesday.
