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Global Travel Trends 2013

Carl J. Miller

Florida International University

7/27/2013

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Abstract

The world is constantly changing and the travel industry is no different. As the world gets more

connected, travelers will be going to new places and more of them will be out there. The goal of

this research is to highlight current travel trends in 2013 and find out why they are so important.

In order to do this, I looked at five travel trends lists for 2013 – one general travel, two leisure

travel, and two business travel – and highlighted items which overlapped. The overlapping issues

were all over the map so I grouped them together in four categories: Technology, Transportation,

Accommodation, and Destinations. There were some trends which applied to everyone but others

were geared towards either leisure travelers or business travelers. In my final step, I sorted the

categorized issues and assigned them to the group of people they are affecting the most. The

purpose of the research is to give travelers a better idea of what to watch and prepare for as they

make their way around the world.

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Global Travel Trends 2013

I am an avid traveler and I love to get out and see the world. I chose this topic and

performed this research because it is very interesting to me. I have taken three trips so far this

year and have personally encountered some of these trends. I wanted to know why some of these

things are happening now.

I am not the only person who likes to travel. There are others who travel far more than I

and there are others who must travel as a result of their job. The world is getting more and more

connected, mostly thanks to the Internet. There are new countries making an impact on how the

world works and more people are going to new places than ever before. I live in the United

States but I wrote this paper with a global view in mind. However, all currency amounts listed

are in U.S. Dollars.

Literature Review

General Travel

I used skift.com’s “13 Trends That Will Define Travel in 2013” as the base line of

my research. This was the best general travel list I came across and it proved to be a great

starting point for me. The other articles and lists I used for my research were very complimentary

of this. This list has something for everyone and addressed a wide range of topics (Ali, Schaal, &

Shankman, 2013).

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Leisure Travel

The first article I used for leisure travel research was “Most Important Travel Trends of

2013” from travelandleisure.com (Travel + Leisure Staff, 2013). The second was “Top Travel

Trends for 2013” from independenttraveler.com (Hewitt, 2013). These lists shared some of the

same items as the skift.com list but were completely focused on leisure travelers. They helped

me determine which trends were the most important for leisure travelers.

Business Travel

The first list of business travel trends I used for my research was “Business Travel Trends

in 2013” from businessvibes.com (Business travel, 2013). The second resource of business

specific travel was not a list but an article which featured the results of an Airplus survey of

corporate travel managers (Prabu, 2013). I thought this was important because it tied into some

of the trends I already found and it was credible because the data reported came from real

professionals in the business travel industry.

Results

General Travel

Technology.

Mobile booking. The travel and hospitality industries are no longer strangers to electronic

commerce (e-commerce). Total online travel sales totaled $162.4 billion in 2012 (Internet travel,

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2013). But now, mobile commerce (m-commerce) has quickly developed into a major tool for

businesses to reach customers. Many people already have internet-ready mobile devices and

more plan on buying them. As of February 2012, over 50 percent of leisure travelers and 75

percent of business travelers had smartphones (Online travel, 2013). According to a 2013

Travelport survey of international leisure travelers, eighty-seven percent of respondents under

age 35 said they had or planned to own a smartphone within six months, and, eighty percent of

respondents aged 36-45 said the same (Horner, 2013).

The travel and hospitality industries are already benefitting from these mobile consumers.

A 2013 Adobe study found that, along with retail, the travel and hospitality industries were the

only industries to have over a combined twenty percent of smartphone and tablet internet traffic

– 10.9 percent of all smartphone internet traffic and 11.2 percent of all tablet internet traffic.

Google predicted hotel internet searches would go up 24 percent in 2013, with mobile internet

hotel searches increasing 68 percent and desktop internet hotel searches decreasing four percent

(Online travel, 2013).

These mobile users are not just searching, they are purchasing. Booking.com is a site

where travelers search for and purchase hotel rooms. They also have a mobile app available for

download which offers the same capabilities as their website, offering 290,000 hotel rooms in

180 countries. The app is available in 26 languages. By the end of 2012, the app had been

downloaded more than 20 million times and booking.com had made $3 billion worth of mobile

sales in 2012 alone. This was triple the amount of its mobile sales in 2011, $1 billion (Siwicki,

2013). EyeForTravel found that 20 percent of travel bookings made in the U.S. are done via a

mobile device. Expedia Media Solutions had a recent survey which revealed 80 percent of

smartphone users who booked a trip via that device would do so again. The number rose to 90

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percent for people who booked with a tablet (Online travel, 2013). Las Vegas is the most popular

destination for mobile booking with 32 percent of visitors arranging to go via their smartphone

or tablet. All destinations in the top ten in mobile booking are in the U.S., save Paris, which

came in at number nine (Laird, 2012).

Mobile booking is clearly changing travel behavior for all travelers. More and more

people are constantly connected to the internet via their mobile devices. Also, more people

around the world are starting to have disposable income for mobile devices and travel. The

results of this are already being shown in the numbers above. Travel and hospitality companies

are making it easy for customers to reach them, and customers are not shying away.

Price transparency and loss of brand loyalty. Price transparency is rising. There are so

many efficient avenues for travelers to search through to find the best price. One example is the

online travel booking site, kayak.com. Kayak.com is free to use and users are able to enter in

their trip preferences and get thousands of results and compare them with different websites.

Once the results are populated, the user can sort through them by price, departure time, or by a

number of other options. By using kayak.com, users feel comfortable knowing they have either

found the best deal or at least the best option that works for their schedule. In order to book,

kayak.com redirects the user to the actual supplier but this is a minor detail in the grand scheme

of things (About us, 2013). Another example is Trip Advisor’s website. Trip Advisor has reached

deals with numerous hotels in order to display room rates along with the user reviews that draw

people to the site (Online travel, 2013). These sources are a weapon for hotels since they can

display their rates where anyone can find them. However, this method has caused hotel rooms to

be treated as a commodity. Travelers now look and see only prices and how many stars each

hotel has. Brand names are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

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There is another website travelers can go to get the best deal. A new site called tingo.com

was started in 2012. This site works similarly to other online travel agent (OTA) sites in that

users enter their desired places and dates and book the hotel which suits them the best. However,

Tingo will automatically rebook the user’s reservation if someone else books an equivalent room

for the same date at a lower price. The user literally has to do nothing other than make the initial

reservation. The user gets charged the initial amount but a refund will be awarded to their credit

card after their stay (Thompson, 2012). This is an incredible service.

Hotels are not the only ones feeling the loss of brand loyalty. It is hitting airlines as well.

Airlines prices are all over the OTA’s just like hotel room prices are. However, some airlines are

shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to customer loyalty. In a recent study, IdeaWorks

Company requested over 7,000 rewards seats divided between 25 of the world’s leading airlines.

Some performed well but others did not. Delta and U.S. Airways tied for last place by having

only 36.5 percent of requests available (Carrington, Do, 2013). Some airlines view rewards seats

as taking up the space of paying customers so they don’t have many options available for

rewards. This possibly helps sales but it can leave some customers with a bad taste in their

mouths. A recent survey of 1,005 British citizens revealed that 40 percent do not intend to

redeem bonus miles (Carrington, Do, 2013).

With the abundance of information available to consumers, it is not surprising to see

travelers eschewing brand names and selecting the best price or most convenient option for their

schedule. Travelers will gladly take any savings they can get. Not only is all the information

available, but it is at their fingertips. These factors have given travelers the upper hand.

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In-flight Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi on flights is not in itself a brand new thing, but, it has historically

been available on very few flights and very expensive when it has been available.

However, things are starting to change. Routehappy is a company which monitors the

quality of flights and reports what they find on their website. Recently, Routehappy reported 38

percent of domestic U.S. flights offered Wi-Fi service. In terms of flight hours, Wi-Fi is

available on 44 percent of those same flights. This means that Wi-Fi service is more widely

available on longer flights. This is helpful for travelers since electronic devices are supposed to

be powered off during the takeoff and landing portions of the flight. For as bad as they are in

rewards offerings, Delta gets back in the good graces of travelers by offering the most Wi-Fi of

any major U.S. carrier – 65.5 percent (Mutzabaugh, 2013).

Wi-Fi is also becoming more affordable during flights. Passengers can buy an hour of

service for $1.50. Full day passes are available for $14. For business travelers who fly a lot, it

could be worthwhile to get a monthly membership with Gogo Inflight Internet for $49.95. Gogo

is the main provider of in-flight internet (Gogo, 2013).

In-flight Wi-Fi still has a ways to go in terms of availability and price but it is definitely

improving. Availability will probably never be great overall because it does not make much

sense to offer it on short flights as long as electronics must be powered off for the first and last

fifteen or so minutes. However, at its current rates, it is useful for business travelers who need to

work during flights. For a normal traveler, $1.50 is not a bad price to pay for an hour’s worth of

service. That is enough time to get something done or just kill an hour of flight time.

Transportation.

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Packed Flights. In 2012, U.S. flights were, on average, 82.8 percent full (83.2 percent on

domestic flights and 81.7 percent on international flights). From a historical perspective, the

average in 1997 was 70 percent and in 2004 it was 75 percent. Frontier was the most full U.S.

airline, operating at 89 percent of capacity. Virgin America had the most empty seats, operating

at 79 percent of capacity (McGee, 2013). These figures stand to rise for the summer travel season

in 2013. Domestic U.S. flights are projected to be 88 percent full, which averages out to about

2.3 million passengers a day. International travel on U.S. flights is due to be an all time high,

averaging 298,000 passengers per day in during the travel season in 2013(Maxon, 2013).

Airlines have been reducing the number of flights and adding seats in economy class

cabins so this figures to be a trend which will stay around for a while. This has some residual

effects as well. Packing more people onto planes is bound to cause frustration amongst travelers.

The boarding process will take longer since more people have to get on the plane and more bags

will need to be checked due to the already limited amount of space in the overhead bins. Also,

quarters will be close so people could easily become more uncomfortable in the economy

classes. There is not a lot travelers can do about this besides opt for other modes of transportation

or not go at all.

Accommodations.

Ancillary Fees. This is another trend all travelers are getting used to the hard way.

Ancillary fees are becoming the norm in the travel and hospitality industries. Airlines and hotels

are both charging extra fees for various services, some of which used to be included in the price

of a ticket or reservation.

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Major U.S. carriers have been able to add an extra $10-15 dollars of revenue per

passenger from fees. These fees include checked bags, flight changes, and cancelations. On the

extreme end, Spirit Airlines’ average fare was $79.09 and the average fees per passenger was

$54.75 in the first quarter of 2013 (Maxon, 2013).

One way for travelers to fight the fees is to ship bags they know they will have to check.

Recently, Airfarewatch found United Airlines charges $100 to check a bag between 51-70

pounds, $200 for bags weighing 71-99.9 pounds, and up to $400 to check bags on international

flights. For comparison, UPS ground shipment of an 85 pound box from Los Angeles to New

York takes a few days and costs about $100 (Jones, 2013). This can be a good alternative but it

requires extra planning ahead. Sometimes it is just easier to have your stuff with you but this

could be very helpful if traveling with children.

Hotels are reaping the benefits of ancillary fees as well. NYU reported the major U.S.

hotel chains made a combined $1.95 billion from additional fees in 2012. A number of industry

experts revealed the most prominent fees hotels use: resort fees, parking fees, charging for

internet usage, early check in and checkout fees, cancellation fees, mini-bar restocking fees, gym

charges, and included gratuity for the housekeeping staff (in no particular order) (Berry, 2013).

With all of those fees it becomes easy to see how the hotels made so much extra money off of

guests. Some of those are not new but charging for restocking the mini-bar and automatic

charges for housekeeping tips are pushing the limits. It should be noted that not all hotels charge

all of these fees. Resort fees often cover things like internet and gym access.

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Alternatives to hotels. Travelers do have ways of getting around the ancillary fees hotels

impose on them. They do not have to stay in hotels. There are an increasing number of

alternatives.

Companies such as Airbnb.com, Portico, and Inspirato provide these alternatives.

Airbnb.com started a few years ago as a website on which travelers could find people willing to

let them sleep on their couch or use a spare bedroom. Airbnb.com has become more refined as

they now post whole apartments available for rent. Portico and Inspirato are companies who

charge high membership fees but members are able to get private condos and hotel villas well

below market prices. Concierge and housekeeping services are included with these rentals. Each

of these companies have listings all over the world (Travel + Leisure Staff, 2013). Portico and

Inspirato are similar to time share companies but the places members rent are one time only use

instead of a repeated block of time at the same place.

New York City has already been a hotbed for hotel alternatives. Hotel prices are

extremely high in Manhattan so business travelers who frequently travel to the city have started

to rent apartments or even buy second homes. Leisure travelers have started to rent apartments as

well. Many say the price of renting apartments is cheaper or at least similar to staying in area

hotels. They also say renting apartments gives them a better feel for the city and they enjoy the

extra space they get by having their own kitchen and living space (Travel Advice, 2013).

Reliance on peer reviews. A joint study by SAS and Penn State University found a

number of key facts regarding user generated content and hotel bookings. The study found

consumers determine quality by reading reviews of past guests, not by looking at price. Reviews

left by past guests were determined to be much more influential to shoppers than ratings systems.

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This was supported by the last key finding from the study. Price reductions proved to be an

ineffective way for hotels to respond to negative reviews (Consumer reviews, 2013). Europeans

are very reliant on user reviews. PhoCusWright found that 21 percent of French and German

travelers visited travel review websites in 2011, up from only seven percent in 2010. An

EyeForTravel survey found that 57 percent of Dutch travelers were influenced to make

reservations based on peer reviews (Online travel, 2013).

Hotels are very aware of this consumer behavior. As of December 2012, over 500

hospitality companies were displaying linked user generated content from Trip Advisor (Online

travel, 2013). This is good business. It shows hotels know this is more than a trend. They know

where their money comes from and they are adapting their strategies to cater to what customers

want to see.

New Airport Features. Skyscanner conducted a recent survey in which respondents were

told to name the features they would most like to see added to airports. The top ten responses

were: cinema, sleep pods, library, park, vanity areas, kids play areas, swimming pool, workout

facilities, man-made beach, and bicycles (Relaxnews, 2013).

Those respondents’ dreams are already coming true. The largest IMAX theatre in Hong

Kong resides in Hong Kong International Airport (Wong, 2012). The international airport in

Singapore also has a movie theatre, as well as, a rooftop garden, a swimming pool and Jacuzzi,

complimentary foot massages, an Xbox 360 entertainment deck, and a playground. The airports

in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have installed sleep pods for weary travelers (Relaxnews, 2013). These

are great features to have available for people who have long layovers. Travelers can expect to

see more of these and other features added to other airports all around the world.

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Destinations.

China –Inbound. Over 135 million people took tourist trips to mainland China in 2011.

Of those 135 million, 27 million were foreign tourists. South Koreans were the largest number or

foreign visitors with 4.2 million visits. Tourists from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan were not

included in the foreign tally (China inbound, n.d.). China had already become the world’s third

most popular destination for foreign tourists in 2010 and it is predicted to have the most foreign

tourists of any country in 2015 (Relaxnews, 2011). China is predicted to attract the most business

travelers even sooner, in 2014. The Beijing Capital International Airport is expected to overtake

Atlanta as the world’s busiest airport in 2014 (Aviation, 2013).

The Chinese hospitality industry already has expansions in the works in order to be able

to handle the increase in tourists and business travelers. Two American hotel companies have

revealed plans for massive expansions in China. Starwood Hotels plans to add 100 new hotels

and Marriott plans to at least double their current amount of 54 (Aviation, 2013).

China – Outbound. The Chinese are as eager to see the world as the world is to see

China. In 2011, Chinese citizens went on 70 million trips. Though most of those were day trips

within country, the Chinese still spent the third most money on international travel, $72 billion.

They trailed only Germany and the United States. Other Asian countries, Australia, and Europe

were the most popular destinations (Branigan, 2012). However, that same year China did send a

record 1.2 million travelers to the U. S. Of those 1.2 million, 30 percent were business travelers

and the rest either came for vacation or to visit other family members. To put the 1.2 million

Chinese visitors into perspective, that total is up 438 percent from the total from 2004

(McDonald, 2012).

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The outbound tourism spending is no doubt impressive but China’s spending on

outbound business travel is even larger. In 2013, the projected total of this is $226 billion. The

government reforms on economy over the last decade have opened the door for China to become

the most influential player in the global economy. The people of China are ready to do business

and the world is ready work with them.

China and its people are no longer coming; they are here, no matter where “here” is.

Leisure Travel

Technology.

Mobile map apps. Leisure travelers have forever relied on maps to find their way in new

places. The rise in aforementioned smartphones and tablets has changed the way tourists use

maps. Instead of going through the hassle of unfolding a paper map, trying to find their location,

figuring out directions, and folding the map back up, now they are able to pull out their mobile

device and use a digital map app with GPS location. There are many options for travelers to

choose from.

Google Maps is the gold standard of mobile map apps. It is based on real time satellite

GPS location. It offers voice navigated directions for driving, walking, biking, or city

transportation. A user can search for nearby points of interest, such as restaurants. The

restaurants that populate come with Zagat ratings so users can make informed decisions about

where to go. It offers street view, indoor maps of large buildings, and 3D capabilities. It needs

internet access to run but if a user knows they will be without service, they can download

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specific maps of their choosing and save them to use when they do not have internet service

(Google, 2013).

Google Maps is helpful for tourists but it is designed for everyday use no matter if you

are at home or away. There are a multitude of other mobile map apps that specifically aid

tourists. Time Out is another location based app similar to Google Maps. However, the app is

downloaded for specific cities and comes with tabs for users to check on restaurants, bars,

theatres, and tourist sites. The app gives reviews from other users about each point of interest.

Time Out is available for 60 cities worldwide and is available in 11 different languages (Time

out, 2013). Another mobile map app geared towards tourists is mtrip. It is another city-specific

app. The allure of mtrip for a tourist is its itinerary functions. A user can enter in the places they

want to go and the app will make the most time efficient itinerary in terms of getting to and from

each destination. If the user is feeling more adventurous, they can enter preferences into the app

and the app will make an itinerary for them. The app works offline except if the user wants to

share photos or reviews online (Intelligent travel, 2013).

These apps would be useful for business travelers as well but the research indicated they

were designed for leisure travelers.

Transportation.

New forms of vehicle rental. Most travelers get easily frustrated with the process of

renting cars. Sometimes the rental company does not have the supposedly reserved type of car

available and they always have to put up with the upgrade sales pitch. After they get the car, they

have to find their way around a new place, and possibly, learn new traffic laws.

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Fortunately, there are new forms of vehicle rental which eliminate some of those

problems. Major car rental company Hertz is trying out a new ‘24/7’ rental program this

summer. Hertz has enabled tourists from Middle Eastern countries to apply for a 24/7 card which

allows them to access around the world. Users reserve a car online through their account. They

put credits on their card and the card also locks and unlocks the car they rented. The 24/7 system

is a pay-as-you-go system so users pay for the amount of time they have the car. They are able to

use the car as long as they need once they have made a reservation. Hertz plans on expanding the

24/7 system to 35,000 vehicles in 2,000 locations after this very large beta test (Koumelis, 2013).

The Hertz 24/7 program is very similar to the business model of a company called Zipcar.

Zipcar has a similar system with online reservations and user cards which lock and unlock the

cars. The differences between Hertz’s 24/7 program and the Zipcar business model are

membership fees and shorter rental periods. Zipcar charges a monthly membership fee and users

can only rent the cars for a maximum of seven days. Zipcars are available in the Spain, United

Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. Like the Hertz 24/7 program, there are no specific pick up and

drop off locations. Users find the car at the time of reservation and leave it in a legal parking spot

when they are finished (zipcar, 2013).

One other alternative form of vehicle rental is renting another person’s vehicle.

Getaround is a peer to peer car sharing company. Providers are able to list their cars, when they

are available, and at what rate they charge. Drivers also register in the Getaround system and

select the vehicle they need. The provider and the driver agree on the duration of the rental. They

are able to rate each other in the Getaround system after the transaction has taken place

(Getaround, 2013). This system seems more suited to area locals who need a car for a big

grocery store trip or a weekend getaway than to tourists but it is another option.

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Accommodations.

Pop-up hotels. Pop-up hotels are temporary hotels. They are easy to set up and transport

and they are usually based around events. They can be anywhere – tents in a field, large cargo

boxes stacked wherever there is room, or transformed office space in an unused building. They

come with some of the same concierge and housekeeping services as standard hotels and they

stay in one place only as long as they are needed. A good example is the Glastonbury music

festival in the U.K. This is an extremely popular outdoor summer music festival. Tents were set

up as pop-up hotels and visitors could stay on site. This saved them from worrying about

transportation to and from the festival (Carrington, Pop-up, 2013).

Guests usually pay a premium for staying in pop-up hotels due to unmatched locations.

However, there are economical options too if the only desire is a place to sleep. Pop-up hotels

often do not have a specific time frame for staying in one place; they stay as long as there are

people willing to stay with them (Jana, 2012).

Destinations.

Film tourism. Traveling to movie filming sites used to be more of a novelty than big

business. Then Lord of the Rings happened. The film franchise nearly doubled New Zealand’s

tourism revenue from about $3 billion in 1999 to almost $6 billion in 2011 (Mayo, 2013).

Scotland is hoping the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, will have the same effect.

There were extensive scenes in the movie which featured Scotland’s beautiful, mysterious

Highlands. Behind momentum from Skyfall, CNN named Scotland as the top travel destination

for 2013. Skyfall was released all over the world so everyone who saw the movie got a glimpse

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of what Scotland is like (Lazarus, 2013). There are other reasons to go to Scotland in 2013, such

as, The Open Championship of golf, played at Muirfield, the first organized golf club in the

world. But, Scotland would not have been named CNN’s top travel spot without the swagger of

James Bond and the showcased scenery in Skyfall.

The state of Virginia is hoping to capitalize on Best Picture nominee, Lincoln. President

Lincoln spent considerable time in Richmond shortly before his death and much of the movie

was filmed there. The state has set up an online self-guided tour of the movie and Lincoln’s life.

“Lincoln Was Here” symbols have been placed on historical and film sites. Tourists are

encouraged to basically walk in Lincoln’s shoes while taking the tour (Johanson, 2012). The

movie, Lincoln, was critically acclaimed and Virginia is banking on the movie inspiring people

to come visit. Even though the Gettysburg Address was given in Pennsylvania, it can only help

Virginia’s efforts that 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of that speech.

Film tourism is not limited to big box offices hits. The HBO television series Game of

Thrones is also producing large film tourism revenues. HBO has set up a traveling exhibit of

Game of Thrones props and costumes used in the show. The exhibit is going to be opened in

various locations in the U.S., Europe, and Brazil. Viator, a San Francisco based tour company,

has established walking tours at film sites in Croatia and Northern Ireland (Mayo, 2013).

The results of being one of the homes of Game of Thrones has been especially beneficial

for Northern Ireland. The city of Belfast has a long history of conflict and violence amongst its

own citizens. Relations between the Catholics and the Protestants have been so bad a wall

divides the city that has stood longer than the Berlin Wall did. Relations are getting better and,

unintentionally, Game of Thrones has aided that effort. Very few tourists visited Belfast so it was

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isolated from the world. Now, people are coming and the locals are proud to show off their home

to those who visit. Belfast and a lot of Northern Ireland have seen an influx of tourism money

come in. Prosperity is helping people forget about their differences. Game of Thrones is not a

cure all but the people are proud to be a part of something positive like a hit TV show and some

of them even get to be in it as extras (Rosenbloom, 2013).

Myanmar. Not long ago, Myanmar (Burma) was a country that was closed off to the

world. The country has a dark history of human rights violations, most notably genocide. Until

recent political reforms within the country most nations banned their citizens from visiting

Myanmar (Burma).

However, Myanmar is quickly changing its ways and opening up to the world. The world

is following suit and opening up to Myanmar. Over one million people visited Myanmar in 2012.

Tourist arrivals are expected to increase by another 30 percent in 2013. The total amount of

international flight seats to Myanmar was 51,000 in April of 2012. That number grew to 81,000

in January of 2013, a 59 percent increase in only nine months. Yangon International Airport has

a project underway to double the capacity of passengers per year to 5.5 million (Than, 2013).

Myanmar is very quickly turning into a desired place to travel. Largely, it is a place most

people have not seen or been to so there is a lot of intrigue in going there. If the country keeps up

with their reforms, Myanmar should be one of the tourist hot spots by the end of the decade.

Business Travel

Technology.

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Rogue travelers and mobile booking. Rogue travelers, also called “unmanaged”

travelers, are business travelers who book travel arrangements outside of their company’s

policies or pre-negotiated rates (Mayock, 2012). They are able to re-coup the money they spend

on trips by including the costs in expense reports they get reimbursed for.

AirPlus International released the results of a survey given to 2,100 corporate travel

managers from 24 countries in early 2013. Eighty-two percent of respondents confirmed their

companies have business travel policies in place, 72% of which cover all aspects of travel

(flights, hotels, ground transportation, etc.). The travel managers interviewed also confirmed that

many of the people who travel in their companies book trips using mobile devices – 19 percent

of Asian business travelers, 13 percent of North Americans, and nine percent of Latin Americans

and Western Europeans. Sixty-two percent of the travel managers said they did not see a benefit

in employees booking trips with mobile devices (Prabu, 2013). Rogue travelers are a travel

manager’s worst enemy and giving them a hand held device from which they can book travel

makes a travel manager’s job harder.

It is estimated that about 55 percent of business travelers have booked at least one rogue

trip. Business travelers go rogue for two reasons, convenience and price. Many times the hotels

included in the corporate policy are on the other side of town from their meeting or the flight

schedule of the airline the company has pre-negotiated rates with conflicts with their ideal

schedule. Other times, rogue travelers are just able to find a better price than what is offered

under company policy (Mayock 2012).

Since mobile bookings are on the rise in general, it can be safely assumed that the

number of business travelers who book trips via mobile devices will be a part of that rising

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number. It is also a safe bet that the number of rogue travelers will increase. Or if not travelers,

the number of rogue trips will increase.

Hotels are aware of this growing group of travelers and some are starting to develop

marketing plans specifically aimed at capturing the business of rouge travelers (Mayock, 2012).

Transportation.

Low cost airlines. Low cost, or budget, airlines are simple in nature but they are good at

what they do. They offer reliable, safe transportation. They are not exciting but they are

effective. They are great at getting passengers from Point A to Point B. They typically offer

shorter flights so quality does not matter as much. They often to go some more remote places the

main carriers do not offer service to. Budget airlines are particularly good for business travelers

in Europe (Rigby, 2013).

European budget carrier Ryanair estimates that 22 percent of their passengers are

business travelers (AFP, 2013). One of their main competitors, EasyJet, estimates that 18 percent

of their passengers are business travelers (Reuters, 2012). EasyJet is making aggressive moves to

increase its share of the business traveler pool. They recently agreed to a number of deals with

different corporations. They are also offering Flexible Fares to business travelers. With these

Flexible Fares, business travelers can go through an expedited security line, are awarded priority

seating and boarding, and do not have to pay for date changes (AFP, 2013).

It is not surprising to see EasyJet making these moves. Major carriers are getting

expensive, even for business travelers, and travel budgets are going down so this has companies

looking at alternative transportation for their employees.

Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 22

High speed trains. Rail companies are also competing for business travelers in Europe.

More high speed tracks are being laid and more routes are being approved. Most of the new

routes improve access to London via the channel tunnel. Specifically, Germany and Spain will

have new or increased high speed rail access to London via the channel tunnel.

It has been determined that a five hour train ride equates to a two hour flight once the

travel to and from the airport and the necessary earlier arrival time at the airport are figured into

equation. High speed trains are expensive in Europe but the advantages over flying are having

more space to relax or work, having a cloud-free view, not dealing with the hassles of airports,

and being green (O’Sullivan, 2013). In addition to those benefits, the Rail Europe website lists

other benefits for business travelers: no weather delays, access to more places (in general, not

necessarily high speed), and less commuting (10 reasons, n.d.). The commute is less because the

train stations are in the center of most European cities and the airports are on the outside of the

cities. This assumes the meetings or arrangements the business travelers have are in the middle

or downtown areas of the city, a reasonable assumption.

The Chinese also like skipping the hassles of the airport. China has the most high speed

train passengers in the world, averaging 1.3 million per day. In China, taking the train is cheaper

than flying and they also like being able to work during the entire duration of the ride. China

sees the value in their high speed trains and they have a $300 billion project in the works which

will give them a 15,000 mile high speed rail network by 2020 (Jiang, 2013).

The Japanese are also very dependent on their high speed rail system. However, new

budget airlines are attracting some passengers. Peach Airlines offers flights for $40 but so far

mostly caters to tourists. However, high speed rail providers have been cutting ticket costs.

Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 23

Business travelers still prefer the high speed rail option to the budget airlines because there are so

many more available seats on the trains and trains are available throughout the day. The budget

airlines still have a very limited number or flights available (Cooper, 2013). It will be interesting

to see if the budget airlines continue to expand in Japan or if the people will stay loyal to the high

speed trains.

Accommodations.

Tech-friendly hotels. Business travelers need to stay connected, whether it is to the office

or family at home. With the growing sophistication of mobile devices, travelers can stay in touch

more easily than ever. Hotels need to find new ways of catering to these business travelers who

are becoming less reliant on them.

Marriott hotels are rolling out new implementations to attract business travelers. First,

Marriott has begun to offer remote check in. Guests can check in via a mobile device and use

that device as their room key. When they check in they can let the hotel know their estimated

arrival time and make any last minute requests. They are installing a Go Board information

center in the lobbies of their properties. This is basically a digital concierge which helps guests

find the gym area in the hotel or a good place to eat dinner. Marriott is offering Red Coat Direct

meeting services to business clients who host meetings. The Red Coat Direct service can do

anything the guest needs, from setting up a projector to bringing more coffee during the middle

of the meeting. They are also offering a program called WorkSpace On Demand which allows

people who are not guests at the hotel to host meetings in the hotel’s meeting space. Finally, and

maybe most importantly, Marriott is adding an adequate number of plug-ins for mobile device

Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 24

chargers in rooms and public areas (Watkins, 2013). Marriott seems to be ahead of the

competition in finding new ways to attract business travelers.

Destinations.

Brazil. Brazil is about to take the world’s center stage this decade. Brazil is hosting the

FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. The country will be flooded

with fans and tourists but it is not all fun and games. These events also mean big business and

Brazil is looking to cash in on its opportunities.

Brazilian business travel spending has tripled since the year 2000 and could reach $35

billion in 2013 (Aviation, 2013). Domestic business travel spending has been increasing at an

average rate of 8.3 percent per year in that time frame and is forecast to grow 12.9 percent in

2013, to a total of $27 billion. International outbound business travel is predicted to grow over 20

percent in 2013, totaling over $7 billion (N.B., 2013).

I was not able to find any inbound business traveling figures. However, it is safe to say

Brazilians are not sitting on their hands waiting for people to come to them with business

opportunities. They are making moves and promoting their country and companies aggressively

in advance of the World Cup and Summer Olympics.

India. India is the last of the big three emerging countries to be mentioned in this report

(China, Brazil) though it should not be thought of as last. India’s economy and world presence

are growing at substantial rates and Indians as a people are helping their nation grow.

According to a yearly Accor Hotels business travel survey taken by business travelers

form all Asia-Pacific countries, Indian respondents averaged 14.6 business trips in the year 2011

Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 25

(Garia, 2013). According to Amadeus-Frost & Sullivan, business travel is India’s strongest

growth sector of outbound travel (Salim, 2013).

Not only are Indian business people traveling but they are very desirable business

travelers. According to the 2012 version of the Accor survey, they average the third highest

nightly amount spent on accommodation at $133. Indians were the most likely people in the

survey to leave a review of a hotel. They also prefer to stay in the same places, provided they had

a good experience (Indian business, 2012).

Indian business travelers can be quite a boon to the economies of the places they do

business. They represent a strong growing economy but also are loyal patrons of the places they

stay. In general it seems wise to do business with Indians. Hotels would stand to do very well to

market to Indian business travelers.

Discussion

I really enjoyed doing the research for this paper. The world is a fascinating place and it

is challenging to keep up with what is going on.

The two trends which have impacted me the most so far in my travels this year have been

packed flights and ancillary fees. I have flown from MSP to Phoenix, Portland (OR), and Las

Vegas this year and it seemed as though there were more people on the flights but I did not look

into it at all until researching this paper. Thankfully I did not suffer from any of the residual

effects. I encountered resort fees at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I noticed it when I made the

booking so it was not a surprise but it was the first time I had encountered it.

Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 26

Writing about the tourism destinations was a lot of fun. I went on a golf trip to Scotland

in August 2012 absolutely loved it. I was happy to see it was named CNN top travel destination

for 2013. I drove through the Highlands region so it was a pleasant surprise for me to see so

much of the scenery in Skyfall. I am also a Game of Thrones fan so it was fun to read more about

some of the locations where they film the show. I hope these on-screen entertainment giants truly

help bring in tourism revenue for these areas.

There were so many trends to choose from I could not include all of them. The biggest

omission was probably culinary tourism. One could write a whole book on travel trends and I did

not have the space or the time to write about everything.

I do feel this is a strong representation of what people will find when they go out and

travel the world in its current state. I also believe any traveler can be affected by at least one

thing mentioned in this report.

Running Head: GLOBAL TRAVEL TRENDS 2013 27

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