The New Norm of Tourism: To Think Before You Travel

It is without a doubt that the travel and tourism industry is always evolving and changing to fit peoples’ needs. Without its adaptability and flexibility, it wouldn’t flourish.

These changes also accelerated post-pandemic, highlighting the necessity of travel and its role in day to day life. The urge to travel became even more prevalent.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimated that in 2022 over 250 million international arrivals were recorded globally. While that number does not compare to the 2019 numbers of 540 million international travelers globally, it still highlights the increase of travel to come. 

However, the patterns and behaviors of travelers from 2019 have changed significantly.

What was considered a travel need in the past doesn’t necessarily concern travel patterns and behaviors today. For instance, tourism trends in the early 2000’s focused highly on convenience, without much consideration or concern for environmental and local impact.

This created mass tourism sites to become overcrowded and while the local economy was impacted, it also created cultural contraindications and an overall commodification of sites. 

The commodification of sites can be referred to by sociologist George Ritzer who coined the term “McDonaldization” in 1993. The characteristics of fast-food franchises, fast and easy in society.

When popular tourism sites began to grow with the masses, a need to change society also created significant impacts. More and more antiquities and traditions were created to tailor to the traveler than the actual culture at hand.

However, today, that isn’t the case.

The traveler is more consciously aware of environmental and local impact. There is a huge focus on cultural preservation, contributing to lesser known destinations and leaving the environment intact through no trace measures.

Convenience was overtaken by consciousness and these are some of the tourism trends that are prevalent today with future increase ahead.

Local Accommodation: A Home Away from Home

To travel is to experience and to experience is to create memories and a positive psychological impact. Imagine a feeling of being home away from home. Local accommodation brings together the best parts of local culture with its sense of belonging and community.

Local accommodation became a much more exciting way to experience local culture. Guest houses or local accommodation can still be fully serviced, but an immersive way to experience more than just the amenities of a hotel.

While we are not opting for the complete ditching of hotels, the traveler today can focus on a mix of both. Local accommodations or guest houses are a conscious change in 2022. For instance, getting local meals cooked by a family or staying on a homestead where local ingredients are used are just some of the best ways to practice what you preach.

When a traveler is part of experiential tourism, it demands them to take personal involvement through different social and emotional cues. It allows the host of the country and guest to work together in bridging the experience through different perspectives and experiences.

Also, when a tour company works with a local partner in the host country, it creates better opportunities for the experience to stay truly local.

Online Traveling Agencies: Booking with One Click

Long gone are the days of directly dealing with an office or a travel representative. Online traveling agencies have had a large impact on the industry itself. By choosing small and boutique online traveling agencies, there is agency and empowerment to the traveler.

The traveler can do their own research, find solutions on their own and with online traveling agencies comes a lot of business models that value information over revenue. The goal is to educate the traveler and empower them on their decision making.

The traveler is invited with an online traveling agency to do research on their own, compare prices, pick and choose what suits their needs and categorize down to what a trip should look like for them.

Moreover, the transparency of online traveling agencies creates a trusting relationship between the client and the agency. Online traveling agencies share transparency, highlight their methodology and practices, while showing full itineraries. Based on those itineraries, customers can make their own decisions or further go down the line of research.

Moreover, many online traveling agencies have opted to work with many local inbound operators who employ local workers and experiences. With online traveling agencies, there are also options to create customized itineraries, flexible options and try new experiences that may not have been an option before.

Bleisure: Extending Business to Leisure

Business + Leisure = Bleisure

An industry that is often overlooked by many travelers and companies, however, a huge leading industry when it comes to money. Business travel is meant to reach $791.9 billion by 2026, according to Report Linker.

The trend in the past was to go on a business trip, finish the assigned objectives and then go home, however, many companies are now taking into consideration the emotional and mental wellbeing of business travelers.

By extending their trips a few days to include leisurely activities, it has created the space to create a better capacity for a working environment upon their return and allow for time to gain more cultural awareness.

Imagine an employee who is able to increase their communication skills, productivity and intercultural awareness through a few days of extending their travels.

The positives outweigh the negatives and since conscious travel is in, this is just one of the ways that can decrease the potential downfalls of environmental travel issues. By extending a few days of travel there is an extra added value and a higher return of investment.

And leisure doesn’t necessarily have to be meaningless. Experiential tourism allows for immersion of a country's culture through its gastronomy, history, heritage and environment.

Allowing time for an employee to relax and rejuvenate adds a bonus of connectivity through meaning and memory with the interaction of employees. Whether it is learning a new skill set, trying something new or even improving language skills, bleisure should be one of the trends added to the future of tourism.

Many traveling agencies are also now focusing on itineraries that are specific to the business traveler and one day retreats or even team building activities can be arranged.

Travel and tourism continues to emerge, evolve and adapt to its new environment. Conscious travel over convenience is now in the present and is sure to create an increase in the future. So whether it is through accommodation, experiences or even a new destination, the new norm of tourism employs a think before you speak method or in this case, think before you travel!

Author: Global Tribes at GlobalTribes.io