Travel & Tourism: Analysis of Current Trends and Future Outlook

This report delves into the dynamic landscape of the travel and tourism industry, exploring key trends that are reshaping the sector. It highlights the increasing frequency of holidays, driven by factors such as internet booking convenience, airport expansions, and transport advancements. The report also examines the rise of independent travelers and their preferences for budget-friendly, self-planned trips. Furthermore, it analyzes the factors influencing the industry, including currency exchange rates and transportation developments, particularly the impact of low-cost airlines. The report concludes by emphasizing the industry's resilience and potential for future growth, especially with the rise of the baby boomer generation as a key demographic.

Travel & Tourism 0
Title: Travel & Tourism
Assignment Name:
Student Name:
Course Name and Number:
Professor:
Date:

Travel & Tourism 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Increased Frequency of Holiday................................................................................................2
More Independent Travelers......................................................................................................3
Factors Affecting the Travel & Tourism Sector........................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

Travel & Tourism 2
Introduction
Tourism is an industry that has survived through the financial crisis, and have
witnessed a sustainable development through the various new additions of trends that have
successfully enticed the tourists. The tourism industry through its innovative approaches has
helped in creating job opportunities and have contributed to the GDP of the nation. The
various trends that have helped the tourism industry in developing include the increase in the
frequency of holiday, the rise in the independent travelers, the rise in the baby boomer
generation for holiday packages and many others. These trends have been further successful
due to the various factors that have increased the level of convenience for the tourists.
Increased Frequency of Holiday
The new trend in the tourism industry is the increase in the frequency of holidays that
is helping the travel industry flourish. Many people are taking holidays like weekend
getaways, cruise holidays, festival holidays, short trips, and many other vacations. This
increase in the holidays is also due to the various factors like the convenience and flexibility
that has been brought by the internet in travel bookings, expansion, and development of
regional airports, the development in the transport facilities and the currency exchange rate1.
The facility of the internet, call centers and Teletext helps in conducting booking 24 hours a
day. Also, the different packages that are offered by the tourism companies are planned
accordingly that cater to different income groups. This factor has helped in the increment of
the travelers due to the cheap and economic packages that give the tourist an opportunity to
freely plan trips. Though, this has affected the business of a travel agent, who has suffered a
great loss in recent years due to online bookings2. For example, there has been an increase in
the abroad trips of an average person of UK from the year 2011 to 2013, the hike has been
1José I Castillo-Manzano, Mercedes Castro-Nuño and Lourdes López-Valpuesta, '“When Las Vegas Takes To
The Sea' (2017) 24 Tourism Economics.
2 Steenbruggen J, 'Tourism Geography: Emerging Trends And Initiatives To Support Tourism In Morocco'
(2016) 5 Journal of Tourism & Hospitality.

Travel & Tourism 3
from 1.2 per person in 2011 to 1.7 per person in 2017. This is also due to the emergence of
low-cost airlines. For example, in Europe the low-cost airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet, have
increased the tourist in Europe due to the low fare prices and as predicted by researchers that
by the year 2030 the tourist level in Europe will be three times of today. In the UK the low-
cost airline has developed by 88 percent from 2009 till 2016, the passenger seats on the low-
cost airlines have hiked from 908 million to 1.7 billion, as reported by the Global Data3.
More Independent Travelers
In the recent times, this has been observed that there is a rise in the Independent
travelers, who search for cheap holiday trips on the internet, suiting to their budget’s needs,
accommodation and many other different factors. The process of planning and booking for an
independent trip is cheaper, quicker, and easier, though the only drawback is that there are
some advantages in group packages which the independent travelers do not get4. The other
drawback of independent traveling is on the travel agent as the individual booking will not be
protected by the ATOL. Initially, the rise in the independent travelers happened due to the
business trip, later it was taken for hiking, adventurous trip and thus this introduced the
travelers to the easy process of traveling alone. The current generation of millennial
approximately 80% plans to go on an adventure trip in the year 2018, as reported by the
Adventure Travel Trade Association5. This has also been researched that people who travel
alone, amongst them 38% of them will travel alone again, this is due to the solo experience of
exploring the place alone along with reinventing oneself. According to the Google poll, there
has been an increase of 40% in the solo travelers from 2015 to 2017. The rise in the solo
travelers is also increasing the frequency of holidays, as a solo traveler travels approximately
3 Dushica Mateta-Gigova, 'Contemporary Trends In The Tourism Market' (2016) 4 Journal of Process
Management. New Technologies.
4 Mirela Mazilu and others, 'New Trends In Romanian Tourism In 2018' (2018) 07 Journal of Tourism &
Hospitality.
5 Salvatore Monaco, 'Tourism And The New Generations: Emerging Trends And Social Implications In Italy'
(2018) 4 Journal of Tourism Futures.

Travel & Tourism 4
three to four times in a year. Also, the number of women travelers as a solo is higher than the
men. The main reason why travelers are opting for independent traveling is that they enjoy
the freedom of exploring a face, they do not have to wait for somebody, or build a schedule
according to other people’s preference. Many of the independent travelers go on solo trips as
they find it as a confidence booster and they take it as a challenge to enjoy on their own. In
the United Kingdom, more than 67% of the people are planning to go on a solo trip, in
Germany, it is the highest with 80% of the travelers going on an independent trip6.
Factors Affecting the Travel & Tourism Sector
The first factor that is being taken into consideration is the currency exchange rate
that has an impact on the tourists spending power. When travelers travel to a foreign land
they have to convert their funds to the currency of that particular land. For example, if the
U.S. dollar will be higher than the currency of that particular place, then the travelers will
enjoy more as the exchange rate will support them in their traveling expenses. But if the US
dollar has a decline in its value than it will affect the travelers’ expenses and also this will
bring a shift in their location choices. The traveler will prefer an African safari over a place in
Europe7.
Another factor that has brought massive change in the tourism industry is the
development in the transportation. Transport is a key that helps in connecting regions,
attractions and various places nationally and internationally. Transport and tourism are
Siamese twins. The biggest development in transport is the low-cost flights. Earlier it was a
big thing to travel abroad, but with the current development and the convenience due to the
low fare flights, almost every second tourist is traveling abroad. Another transport facility
6Sherri S, 'Latest Trends In Travel' (2016) 05 Journal of Tourism & Hospitality.
7 Natasa Sekulovic, 'Trends And New Initiatives In Tourism At The Time Of The General Economic Crisis And
The Current Situation In Serbian Tourism' (2015) 23 Procedia Economics and Finance.

Travel & Tourism 5
that has helped the tourism industry is the rise in the standard of public transport. The public
transport of today is not looked down upon and is used by all income groups8.
Conclusion
The travel and tourism industry has been the only industry that has survived and
developed during the time of recession. The latest trends that are occurring in the tourism
industry is going to bring a huge transformation in the tourism industry. From the
independent travelers, the shift is going to take place to the baby boomer generation who
have the money and the time to travel and bring a huge change in the tourism industry. The
changes have been identified by the tourism organization as their marketing approaches are
not targeted towards them.
8Melanie Smith and LáSzló Puczkó, 'Taking Your Life Into Your Own Hands? New Trends In European Health
Tourism' (2010) 35 Tourism Recreation Research.

Travel & Tourism 6
References
Castillo-Manzano J, M Castro-NuñoL López-Valpuesta, '“When Las Vegas Takes To The
Sea' (2017) 24 Tourism Economics.
J S, 'Tourism Geography: Emerging Trends And Initiatives To Support Tourism In Morocco'
(2016) 5 Journal of Tourism & Hospitality.
Mateta-Gigova D, 'Contemporary Trends In The Tourism Market' (2016) 4 Journal of Process
Management. New Technologies.
Mazilu M and others, 'New Trends In Romanian Tourism In 2018' (2018) 07 Journal of
Tourism & Hospitality.
Monaco S, 'Tourism And The New Generations: Emerging Trends And Social Implications
In Italy' (2018) 4 Journal of Tourism Futures.
S S, 'Latest Trends In Travel' (2016) 05 Journal of Tourism & Hospitality.
Sekulovic N, 'Trends And New Initiatives In Tourism At The Time Of The General
Economic Crisis And The Current Situation In Serbian Tourism' (2015) 23 Procedia
Economics and Finance.
Smith ML Puczkó, 'Taking Your Life Into Your Own Hands? New Trends In European
Health Tourism' (2010) 35 Tourism Recreation Research.