Megatrends 2023 tips

China’s latest loosening of its stringent zero-Covid policy, mostly for domestic tourism, comes across as too little too late, at a time when the rest of the world is living with the virus. 

Imagine being able to create travel marketing campaigns, social media posts, and television ads in a matter of seconds with the click of a button. 

Airbnb’s move to get more transparent and show up-front a stay’s total price before taxes in most of the world outside Europe will have a ripple effect across much of the short-term rental sector because of the company’s substantial influence.

Travel has always offered an escape from the ordinary. But it has classically offered escapism by creating what you might call “sensory deprivation bubbles.” It conjured the fantasy that troubles didn’t exist within the space of their resorts, cruise ships, theme parks, and first-class cabins. 

OK, millennial, goodbye, boomer? One of the biggest shifts of the pandemic snuck under our noses as we hit play on the next episode of Tiger KingIt became official in early 2020: millennials overtook the baby boomers as the largest generation in the United States. 

Join us online on Tuesday, January 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET as Skift presents its most popular event, Megatrends, welcoming over 1,000 attendees tuning in globally through our online conference platform.

The pre-Covid world where people could move (relatively) freely across borders for leisure, information, education and work won’t be coming back next year, as the West will continue to shut out millions of people from Africa, Asia and Latin America due to the slow return of their visa processing staff.

Doing local in a more memorable way is becoming increasingly important for hotels. Marriott International VP of Design Aliya Khan and Curator Hotel & Resort Collection President Jennifer Barnwell discuss the rising demand for more lifestyle, capturing experiences through design and balancing renovations with changing consumer expectations.

Tour operators were decimated during the pandemic. If they wanted to survive, they had to figure out how to bring in more revenue and operate business more efficiently. 

Big banks are making a bold statement in travel and will increasingly become the first place — at the top of the proverbial trip-planning funnel — where customers look to book their trips.

Gains in efficiency were realized during the pandemic when virtual gatherings were the only option. There was no other choice — business had to be conducted online.

The pandemic has led to a permanent change in how we live our lives between work and the personal. No longer just a trite category called “bleisure,” the idea of blended traveling is front and center for every major travel company now. How new strategies focused on the blended traveler will emerge more clearly in 2023, as the industry recognizes the whole traveler holistically.  

Appealing to people’s emotions is becoming a more effective way for hotel groups to woo travelers because guest needs are evolving in ways that undercut the traditional branding recipe. Many hotel executives are fine-tuning what their brands stand for and how they communicate that message to guests as they try to grab market share.

General searches that take travelers to multiple websites and a broad selection of options need to be better, irrespective of what phase the consumer is in when planning their trip.

Hari Nair, Expedia Group’s global senior vice president and general manager of lodging marketplace, took the stage with Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali this week to discuss big trends shaping travel for 2023 at Skift’s annual Megatrends event in New York City. The industry veteran gives his take on travel spending, talent acquisition, and opportunities for loyalty programs across Expedia’s house of brands.

Sustainability in travel will no longer simply be judged on stated goals. Rhetoric turns to accountability as companies and destinations are forced to put goals into operations in 2023. Travel climate ambitions have reached a moment of maturity.

TikTok can’t be overlooked in marketing. The short-form video platform now hosts 750 million monthly users worldwide, making it the third largest social media network, according to Insider Intelligence. 

Luxury hospitality is in the middle of a boom. As well-heeled travelers return to the road, five-star hotels are reaping the benefits and making up for lost time with expensive rates. But what is becoming very apparent is a new group of ultra-luxury players pushing the industry to previously unseen limits while catering to a mobile class of one percenters that don’t tend to look at the bill. 

Travelers surged back to planes last year in numbers unseen since the beginning of the pandemic. That was good news for airlines that, facing a myriad of challenges, were unable to resume flights quite as fast, which drove up fares — and revenues too. It also, however, brought an unwelcome surge in costs. 

Although travel is poised to continue making progress in its ongoing recovery in 2023, the industry still faces challenges in its quest to surpass pre-pandemic tourism levels.

India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country later this year, as China begins to decline and India’s population growth shows no sign of slowing until 2064. That shift carries huge implications for travel across the globe, and has the potential to rewire the race for attracting global tourists around the world. Skift addressed this in its Megatrends 2023 package in the story India Becoming the New China in the Reordering of Asia Travel.