1. The Anywhere Traveler Puts New Destinations on the Map 

Among Skift megatrends, we highlight the significance of the millennial generation, which accounts for a quarter of the world’s population. The typical millennial, born between 1981 and 1996, is now around 34 years old and in the mid-stage of their career with approaching peak purchasing power. According to Boston Consulting Group, this generation will increase their per capita spending by 10 percent over the next five years, while spending by Gen X and Baby Boomers will decline. Millennials prioritize experiences over material possessions and desire unique travel experiences to distinguish themselves from others. Skift Research reports that 70 percent of American millennials and Gen Zs seek out travel experiences that are unheard of by their family and friends, and the percentage is even higher in China at 90 percent.
Moreover, while digital nomads may not be a significant market, they create a positive image of living and working in unexplored places that have not been widely advertised on social media. This idea of being a digital nomad inspires many millennials and Gen Z travelers who seek unique experiences. Therefore, companies and destinations that can cater to this trend have a good chance of succeeding. 

2. The Changing Face of Human Capital in Travel 

The travel industry is facing a complex labour problem, which varies depending on location and time. Labour shortages persist in many markets, and demographic and cultural shifts are likely to sustain mismatches between supply and demand for some time. Travel companies are developing innovative solutions such as starting their own academies, using social media to attract new talent, and offering better pay and more flexible working hours. However, there are still gaps, especially among low-earning workers who may choose to work in other industries. To address this issue, online platforms are helping to match candidates with employers, and some companies are introducing new models such as offering underemployed professionals 20-hour working weeks. In addition, the cruise industry is calling for more flexible visa arrangements to address staffing shortages, and travel companies are using digitalization and automation to upskill their staff. To attract and retain talent, travel companies could use human resource analytics, according to McKinsey & Company. Some companies, such as Amadeus, have opened schools to train the next generation in digital skills in tourism. While the industry is working to address the labour problem, it remains to be seen how effective these solutions will be in practice. 

3. Planners Embrace Transformational Experience-First Events 

During the pandemic, businesses were forced to conduct their operations online and realized the gains in efficiency. This has led to the acceptance of online meetings, and in-person events are now designed to create a more welcoming environment where attendees drive their own experiences. People now demand to return home inspired and connected, and events that encourage connection and meaning are well-positioned for success in the future. The experience economy is a multi-billion industry that meetings and events can borrow from to offer attendees an experience they will soon not forget. However, meeting professionals must consider planning less and allowing attendees to take more control of their experiences. Accessibility for all is a priority, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) have been a continued focus in the meetings and events industry. Finally, content is at the core of a successful conference, and the experience of understanding is what is offered, which is achieved by eliminating teleprompters and lecterns and creating a simple and minimalistic environment. 

4. Travel Marketing Poised for Reboot From Generative AI 

The travel marketing industry is moving towards using artificial intelligence (AI) to create marketing campaigns, social media posts, and other content. This is made possible by generative AI, a new development that allows computers to create unique products based on specific rules given to them. The generative AI market is projected to reach $110.8 billion by 2030. In the travel industry, this technology can be used for personalized travel recommendations, virtual tours, and creating personalized advertisements, among other things. Marketing agencies are already experimenting with AI software platforms to generate marketing copy and assets. Generative AI is based on transformer models, which spot patterns in data where the sequence of the elements is important. While marketing is the sector that will see the most immediate change from this technology, it could also be used for designing airports, hotels, aircraft, and more. There are already platforms that exist for interior design, and experiments are happening now to explore how AI can be used to develop architecture drawings. 

5. India Becoming the New China in the Reordering of Asia Travel 

China has relaxed its strict zero-Covid policy for domestic tourism, but this may be too late as the rest of the world is learning to live with the virus. Chinese tourists remain skeptical of international travel, according to a recent survey, and this creates an opportunity for India to become the largest travel source market. India’s population is set to surpass China’s in 2023, and it already ticks most of the boxes for a suitable candidate to replace China. In 2019, China was the largest outbound travel market in the world, but its recovery path remains uneven and destinations are looking for new source markets, with India being a frontrunner. India has outperformed other Asia-Pacific countries in terms of a faster rebound and is projected to become the new China over the next five years. Despite challenges such as the cutback on incentive trips, the depreciating Indian Rupee, and visa logjams, India’s potential for outbound tourism is exemplified by its large population, confidence among its travellers, and disposable incomes fuelling recovery in the tourism sector. 

At Twissen we observe that many of the megatrends highlighted by Skift present both opportunities and challenges for the industry, thus, companies and destinations that can successfully cater to them have a good chance of succeeding, while those who ignore the current change in travel & tourism will likely be surpassed by their competitors. 

Learn more about Skift Megatrends 2023. 

Twissen

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L'articolo The Skift Report 2023 includes artificial intelligence and labour shortages among the megatrends proviene da Twissen.

In the budgeting period 2021-2027, Erasmus+ focuses on qualitative impact and actively contributes to more inclusive and cohesive, greener and digitally fit societies. The Program is built both for individuals and organisations, which allows to have a wide and varied catchment area. 

The Programme is the main supporter of the objectives of the European Education Area, the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027, the European Union Youth Strategy and the European Union Work Plan for Sport (2021-24). 

The Covid-19 pandemic brought to the forefront the central role of education to ensure a swift recovery and to promote equal opportunities for all.  

The Programme has the following specific objectives: 

1. promote learning mobility of individuals and groups, as well as cooperation, quality, inclusion and equity, excellence, creativity and innovation at the level of organisations and policies in the field of education and training; 
2. promote non-formal and informal learning mobility and active participation among young people, as well as cooperation, quality, inclusion, creativity and innovation at the level of organisations and policies in the field of youth; 
3. promote learning mobility of sport staff, as well as cooperation, quality, inclusion, creativity and innovation at the level of sport organisations and sport policies. 

The programme has no direct tourism components. However, tourism enterprises, organisations and destinations can benefit indirectly from the specialized education of young generations and directly by participating to partnership projects such as Key Action 2.  

At Twissen we observe the importance of having skilled and informed young resources to be integrated in the Travel and Tourism sector, which, at this juncture as never before, is realizing the strategic importance of the human capital.  

For more information on projects funded in the 2014-2020 budgetary period, see The Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Skills Alliance; European Master in Tourism Management

Twissen

L'articolo 35 years of Erasmus: has it impacted tourism? proviene da Twissen.

At Twissen we observed that especially in the tourism sector there is an unprecedented need for training, transversal and above all at any level, even for trainers who will have to face the challenges of distance learning. But it is exactly from the methods of training through new technologies that new business opportunities arise for companies that develop knowledge, not only because of the reduction of geographical distances, but also because of new synchronous as well as asynchronous distance learning techniques.

Francesco Redi

President and founder at Twissen. Manager in Local Development, Tourism Policies,  EU Funds. He cooperates with several European universities, public bodies, development agencies, DMOs and enterprises.

L'articolo Reskilling and upskilling in tourism: a need and a business opportunity proviene da Twissen.

The Commission has already addressed on coastal and maritime tourism, firmly believing that the diversification could tackle seasonality and enhance growth and jobs. Competitiveness is strictly linked to innovative tourist products such as transnational thematic routes.

Tourists are no longer demanding only for “sea and sun” options and for this reason the call encourages to develop targeted tourism products focusing on experience and addressing on sustainability. A growing number of segments, such as sailors, boaters and water sports practitioners “are increasingly looking for a more diversified tourism offer to complement their holiday programs”, as we have already reported.

The general objective is promoting and improving transnational tourist thematic routes through the creation of transnational thematic tourism products in the areas of nautical tourism and/or water sports tourism also creating synergies with other important sectors such as food and wine, culture and health & wellbeing tourism and cruise tourism.

The call specifies that there are some core activities to be implemented such as:

– the designing of a new transnational nautical route linking tourist attractions;

– the designing of a long term strategy;

– the consulting and validating with relevant stakeholders;

– the consistent communication and dissemination, and

– the establishment of a mechanism to support a solid and sustainable cooperation among the different actors of the tourism value chain.

Complementary activities such as training or measures to assure complementarities with other funded projects or EU programs, and networking with other projects, may add value to the proposal.

The eligible area includes European coastal areas and sea basins involving EU Member States and third countries listed in the text of the call.

EASME – Executive Agency for SMEs is delegated for the implementation of the call. It foresees to finance 5 to 6 proposals between 250.000 and 300.000 EUR and projects are expected to start on December 2017.

Projects should not exceed the duration of 24 months, are granted up to 80% of co-funding rate and co-financing may also take the form of in-kind contributions from third parties.

Proposals must be submitted by a consortium that consists in a transnational partnership with applicants from at least two different eligible countries. Applicants can be public and private bodies.

Competitive proposals will be awarded according to the relevance of the objectives and the added value of the project. Moreover, it will be valued the project design and implementation according to the coherence and the quality of the activities, the allocation of tasks and resources and the risk management and monitoring. An important criterion is the impact in terms of dissemination, sustainability and transferability of the project in order to expand it to other coastal regions and to be used as a model.

The deadline for the call is fixed on March, 15th 2017.

At Twissen we experienced that the establishment of a balanced consortium is a necessary and strategic activity to design a competitive proposal. While all the applicants must own organisational, technical and financial capacity, the lead applicant is an organisation with a multi-annual expertise in the management of this kind of projects.

Martina Baldo

She graduated in Intercultural Development of Tourism Systems and she has a passion for foreign languages and cultures. Since 2016 she works as administration and tourism project manager at Twissen.

L'articolo EU call invests € 1,5 mln to deseasonalise coastal tourism proviene da Twissen.