Turbulence ahead: The future of the travel industry
The Innovation team at Instinctif harness the best of the future to deliver market-leading ideas in the present. The team’s specialism spans digital strategy and marketing, data & analytics, and strategic brand. This fortnightly update shares top tips to help you foster creative and challenge the status quo and summarises the news that matters.
In the maelstrom of the Coronavirus, entire industries have seen themselves upended; and perhaps none so much as the travel industry. Border restrictions and stay-at-home edicts have left everyone from flight carriers to Airbnb hosts wondering when the situation might right itself.
Looking ahead to what the next months and years hold for the travel industry, online magazine and trend forecasting agency Globetrender has launched a future-gazing report produced in association with Cirium and The PC Agency.
Some of the key trends explored in depth include:
- A move to more domestic holidays. This would see holidayers hire cars and properties in their countries of residence, to offset fears of getting ill abroad and navigating foreign medical systems, as well as to circumvent travel quarantine requirements
- Trip of a lifetime. Extended periods of staying home and familiarising themselves with the exact shade of their four walls may result in an influx of travellers booking their ‘once in a lifetime’ holiday when lockdown is fully lifted. Whether that’s a ‘big five’ safari trip to Africa or an intrepid exploration of the jungles in Peru, after months spent trawling destinations remotely, many holiday-makers will be ready to experience their dream destinations IRL
- Arrivals with a twist. International travel is likely to continue to experience added layers of novel security processes, from immunity passports to thermal scanning and quarantine hotels
- Flexi-travel. Armed with the newly-acquired knowledge that situations can turn on a dime, consumers will now be looking for maximum flexibility in any travel plans they make. Say goodbye to restrictive ‘no cancellation’ bookings and hello to ‘no-charge refunds’
It’s a time of huge, pandemic-imposed uncertainty and challenge – but the report offers a glimmer of hope. It presents the view that, “amid the white noise, there will be clarity, opportunity and betterment to be gained, and space for creative thinkers to innovate their way out of problems.”
It’s a way of thinking central to how we work in the Innovation team; moments of earth-moving change can clear the landscape, leaving room to pursue new and better ways of doing things.
Download the full report here or visit Globetrender Magazine to learn more.
In a heady world of social media pile-ons and fake news, Twitter is testing out a new feature that encourages users to look before they leap – or, in this case, read before they tweet.
It aims to persuade those who share articles on the platform to inform themselves of the content first. When users retweet a linked piece of content without looking at it, Twitter will prompt them to actually open the story before they share their views with the world.
At the moment the tool is being tested in the US and on Android. If it proves successful, perhaps in the near future we’ll all find ourselves reminded to be more circumspect with our shares on social media.
Top tip
This week’s tip comes from the Innovation team as a collective.
As part of Pride month, we’ve been educating ourselves on LGBTQ+ history.
The following two films provide compelling looks at two very different examples of the gay and trans experiences in recent years.
How to survive a plague: A Sundance Film Festival selection, telling the story of young men and women in the 1980s who stopped AIDS from becoming a death sentence.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson: An exploration of who killed one of the icons of the gay rights movement, and a celebration of her legacy. The film is available on Netflix.