Australia may be a long way away from any other countries, but it doesn’t stop Australians from visiting every corner of the world. The number of Australians travelling for holidays and business has been on the incline, with an average of 31 out of 100 residents travelling overseas each year. But what is it about the travel market that’s suddenly made it so popular? Let’s find out.
Experience Focused
Many people have drifted away from spending money on material goods and instead have put that money towards experiences. And what greater experience is there than exploring the planet? It can be intimidating to go to a foreign country, so in 2021 there is a huge focus on tour and activity groups. These focus on making sure tourists are safe and ensuring they see all the sights. Tour guides also know all the secret spots that most tourists wouldn’t get to see which makes the experience that bit more special.
Online Reviews
There’s nothing worse than spending money on something and finding out its not what you expected. This is especially true when it comes to travel, no one wants to spend hundreds of dollars on accommodation only to be ripped off. 9 out of 10 travellers think that reading reviews is important, and many travellers will base decisions on the reviews they read online. This trend is set to continue, and more websites are adding ‘review’ sections for travellers to leave their comments.
Mobile Bookings
Most people choose to book online rather than go into a travel agent, but there is a shift towards booking using a phone, this will continue to become more popular throughout 2018. In 2016 only 31% of bookings were made using a phone, whereas today a huge 49% of bookings are done on a phone- that’s just under half. Mobile booking will make it easier for travellers to find their next destination on the go, so this is a huge focus for the travel industry.
Gen X
When thinking about travel, the initial generation that springs to mind is millennials. However, this might not be the right approach. Its easy to forget that most millennials don’t have a huge amount of money as the majority have either just finished or are still at Uni. Who does have money? Their parents. 83% of generation X are working full time, this means they have disposable income to spend on trips abroad. In response to this, 2018 could be the change for travel companies marketing strategy- instead they will target the generation that can afford holidays.
Bye Bye Brochures
Travel companies used to sell their holidays by showing you pictures of beautiful destinations in brochures… but this has all changed. Gone are the days of expensive printing. All that’s needed now is an Instagram account and some clever social media management. Straying away from paper and instead using social media isn’t going away any time soon, so we better all get used to it.
