“That will be the challenge for lazy suppliers who have lived off the anti-competitive system in the past. For the good ones, well, there is a massive market waiting to be pandered to.”

Harbison said he did not think there had been a great deal of focus on that yet. “Perhaps in the high value greys, but not so much for the mass grey market. Most of them simply ain’t rich but want to travel.”

Saying “not all of us are retired of course”, he noted that older travellers were buying online much more now and were getting progressively more savvy. They are careful money managers and need some serious added value from any intermediary.”

The Amadeus report also predicted that by 2020, Asia will account for a third of global travel spend – up to 32% from the current 21%.

However Harbison, who will be leading an aviation session at the Web In Travel Conference, believes that “looking at simple indicators like aircraft orders and manufacturer projections (which actually tend to be relatively accurate), that could even be underestimating the development”.

The report also predicted the disappearance of traditional cabin classes.

Harbison said he believed the three-class cabin would remain in the region – the question is, “what will they be called?”

“For example, Air Canada (which I just flew to Canada) calls its clearly business class something like Executive First – but I think they only have two classes, at least for the time being.

“Undoubtedly this region will demand a high quality front cabin, as economies grow, people get richer and businesses boom. It will have a higher propensity to premium travellers than other regions I believe.

“And, as an indicator, the network airlines in this region will continue to focus on promoting their front cabin superiority.

“But, even as carriers like Singapore Airlines are quietly dropping their 6 star first class cabins, the Gulf carriers are leaping at the chance to capture this high end segment. There are some difficult decisions to be made by flag carrier management for that reason.”

The Amadeus study also suggests a resurgence of face-to-face travel agents, who will evolve into “lifestyle managers” meeting the total needs of travellers.

While Harbison said he found the notion of “lifetsyle managers meeting the total needs of travellers” a bit too simplistic, he said this fitted in with the trend of personal life managers and personal trainers in today’s lifestyle.

 Featured image credit (Happy senior couple walking together on a beach): Ockra/iStock