Doing Replaces Seeing

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 22, 2006

LIZA POWER

Several short breaks a year look set to replace the traditional big trip at Christmas, as will "experience-driven travel", says Liza Power.

Once upon a time there was the package holiday, the cruise and the overlander. Then came the backpacker, the rise of small group adventure and, later, the adventure traveller, the ecotourist and the grey nomad. And now, as we bluster towards 2020, what kind of travellers will we become? And how will the travel industry change to accommodate our shifting tastes?

These are two questions US-based travel giant Cedent Corporation sought to answer when it commissioned The World of Travel 2020 - a report examining projected trends in the travel market over the next 15 years. Published late last year, the results are interesting.

The traveller, according to the study, will venture, on average, on up to four trips a year. Instead of taking larger blocks of leave - four weeks over the Christmas period may be a distant memory - travellers will favour short breaks, often in different parts of the world for a variety of experiences. The menu might read: African safari in January, Andes trek in April, volunteer work in Guatemala in October and New Year's Eve in New York. The "one size fits all" approach to package-deal holidays (think your seven-night fly-drive package for two adults and two children, with breakfast included daily) will be abandoned in favour of individually designed, tailor-made vacations, many with a focus on "doing" rather than "having" - enter the phrase "experience-driven travel".

Luxury travel, the report suggests, is to take on a new definition, one associated less with frills and frippery than personal development (think meditation, yoga and relaxation retreats) and education (literary tours of Ireland, art and architecture in New York or archaeology in Turkey, for example), while cultural travel, recently coined anthro-tourism, is also tipped for significant growth.

As for how we travel shop, that appears to be changing too. The days of surfing the internet for the cheapest flights, accommodation, visa information and travel tips - piecing together the deal ourselves - may be coming to a close. Instead, "seamless travel providers", catering for money-rich, time-poor clientele, will come to the fore. Specialising in tighter flight connections, the issue of boarding passes before you reach the airport, online visa application and paperwork-free rental car pick-up, the "seamless" mob promise to take the stress out of getting from A to B.

Changing family structures will also have an impact. The two adult and two kid deals of the '90s will most likely be replaced by more flexible travel formats. Say a single mother travelling with a friend and her two children, for example.

The most significant growth area, according to the study, will continue to be the "boomer" or "third age traveller' (55-plus). Both time and money-rich, the grey nomad tribe represents a lucrative but discerning target market for operators.

So what does all this mean for the humble traveller of 2006? It's hard to tell. As we've seen over the past few years, tsunamis, bird flu, terrorist attacks, earthquakes and hurricanes have the power to change the tourist map overnight.

Still, with the plethora of podcasts and blogs now available at the click of a mouse, being informed about changing conditions - whether they be political or natural - has never been easier. Just get yourself on the road.

© 2006 The Sunday Age

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