Travellers want new technologies to help make trips more “seamless” and quicker in the future but are also worried about cyber-security and data privacy, according to new research.
A study by travel technology firm Amadeus has identified four different types of travellers, known as “tribes”, who are set to emerge over the next 10 years and will need to be catered for by corporate travel departments and the wider transport industry.
This includes one group, called Travel Tech-fluencers, which incorporates younger business travellers who are focused on utilising different types of technology but also want to be able to take more sustainable transport options. The other so-called tribes have been dubbed Excited Experientialists, Memory Makers and Pioneering Pathfinders.
Across all groups, travellers are most excited about journeys potentially becoming quicker by 2033 than they are today, while the chance to travel in a more environmentally friendly way also scores highly, as does using new technology to reduce problems during trips.
The technologies that most interest travellers include being able to pay for trips by cryptocurrency or through virtual reality or facial recognition, using data to create relevant trips, as well as harnessing biometric data to speed their passage through passport control.
But travellers also have their concerns about how new tech will be used in the next decade, particularly about the potential for more frequent cyber-attacks by 2033, as well as the security of shared data and even a fear that travel could become “unaffordable”.
The research was compiled following a survey with more than 10,000 travellers from 15 countries across the world, including Germany, France, Spain and the UK, as well as expert commentary and the use of psychographic segmentation techniques to assess consumer behaviour.
Positive impact
Paco Perez-Lozao Ruter, president of hospitality at Amadeus, said: “It’s important for many of us that when we travel we have a positive impact on the places we visit, and that is likely to increase.
“Our preferences as travellers continue to evolve, and this study gives us a glimpse into the future. We have different needs depending on the trip, who we’re traveling with and what we are looking for. The challenge for the industry is to adapt to people’s changing preferences, ensuring that destinations and places deliver what travellers want.”
The study finds that the use of biofuels for flights is seen as the likeliest way to improve the sustainability of travel by 2033, although the majority of respondents (63 per cent) said they would not be willing to pay extra for a flight powered by sustainable fuel.
Other methods to make travel more sustainable include holding more virtual meetings, using carbon calculators to measure the environmental impact of trips and even limiting how many miles people are allowed to travel internationally.
Clare de Bono, associate director of strategy and transformation at Amadeus, said it was important for the entire industry to “help improve the experience” for all travellers in the coming years.
“The industry works best when better connected and we hope the report helps to focus minds on this,” she added. “The message is quite clear – travel can be a force for good both societally and environmentally.
“Sustainability is definitely important so you can look at things like making offsetting and measuring carbon easier. It’s really about making a mark without leaving a footprint.”