The consensus on the question I posted before seems to be that it's okay to encourage travel, but that we need to encourage traveling BETTER, whether that means encouraging choosing trains over planes, taking longer trips, seeing things in a different way, etc.
My question now is HOW? How do I as a content creator do that? I mean, just lecturing people about sustainability or whatever isn't going to help. I'd love some PRACTICAL ideas on how to encourage better travel.
So far I'm trying - not always succeeding - to avoid writing about the places that are very popular and instead focusing on lesser-traveled places. I'm avoiding big general listicles and instead trying to write about much narrower topics. As much as possible, I'm traveling by train or bus rather than plane and that'll come through when I write about a place. Any other suggestions?
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What emerging trends and shifts do you anticipate in the realm of travel as we look ahead to 2024? Whether it's technological advancements, changes in traveler preferences, or shifts in the industry landscape and social media. I'm interested in hearing your insights on the evolving dynamics of travel for the upcoming year ✈ 🌎
Thanks for starting this thread Nelson, and I'm curious about your thoughts as well.
Let's turn this discussion into a competition for the Travel Massive community!
🏆 The top 3 most upvoted answers will get their ideas shared in our weekly newsletter 😀
✅ Be creative, positive, and hopeful — we're shaping the future!
PS: For reference, here's last year's predictions:
This is what I think...
In 2024, with the ascent of a libertarian president in Argentina, a seismic shift in the travel landscape is anticipated. The elimination of economic barriers will see a surge in Argentine travelers exploring the world (finally the can save money in foreign currency).
Simultaneously, the travel industry will have more contact with criptocurrencies like Bitcoin because it experiences its halving year. This event, coupled with BlackRock's ETF approval, is expected to propel cryptocurrencies into the mainstream of international transactions, reshaping the financial dynamics of global travel.
The realm of travel content is undergoing a metamorphosis driven by artificial intelligence. Static articles on blogs and websites will find competition on dynamic platforms powered by AI, offering personalized, real-time recommendations to travelers.
This shift promises a more enriched and responsive travel planning experience.
A threat to travel blogs? we are about to see it. 🙂👍
I saw this really interesting report from Hilton on their view on trends for 2024 - stories.hilton.com/2024trends
Let's get this thread started!
My prediction is very boring. I predict that there will be LESS changes in travel in 2024.
Why? The world has gone through an upheaval in the past 4 years... from the pandemic, to wars, inflation, revenge travel boom (and mass flight cancellations), natural disasters, AI disruption, tech layoffs, stock market crashes and bull runs, bank collapses, and psyops (my favourite new word for 2024).
While I'm a huge champion of disruption (why did I help build Travel Massive in the first place?!) I can't help but feel that we need a short break from big, breaking changes to travel — at least for a little while. I'm happy with the last few years trending towards sustainable travel, longer (slower) travel, digital nomadism, improving accessible travel, and bringing remote communities online. More of the same, please.
Good to provoke our thoughts Ian!
Personally I plan on slow travel next year - prefer 1-3 months remote working from one place. Home from home for a local feeling. Home feels nice now with all the disruption in the world and I hate feeling like a tourist. Am considering a food and wine region in Italy not in July and August. On the business front, I hope more people become aware of home swapping as a sustainable (and affordable) alternative to tourist accommodation, which can have negative impacts on local property prices. Our community tell us they enjoy local tips and connectivity with other members, something which they say is missing from most accommodation choices which are purely transactional. Looking forward to reading what others predict.
I asked perplexity.ai about the "top 10" travel & tourism trends 2024 and it came back [in 3 seconds, and with the source links :=)] with some of your "towards" listing and my gut feelings - keeping the global megatrends in mind (love this map since years: www.zukunftsinstitut.de/zukunftsthemen/die-megatrend-map). It offered also some surprises like "surprise travel".
Considering current political turmoil in the worlds I believe travel communities should promote more "educational trip" for in-dept understanding of history and culture in various places. This will potentially prevent the violence and contribute to the peace building on a wider scale.
This is a very interesting thread!
I see one trend that's still on the rise, despite (or because of) the world looking like a dumpster fire from afar, is the number of people reclaiming their freedom and getting liberated from running the corporate hamster wheels. For many, the traditional jobs life can provide a stable, nice and safe comfort zone where they can express themselves with little to no hassle.
For others, this will always be a golden cage they can't wait to escape. What we've seen at NomadRetreats.co is that the people willing to take on the challenge for a different lifestyle and found conscious communities of "friendmily" people is doubling every year. That's why we're trying to collect all of the retreats and travel programs for wannabe digital nomads and remote workers to serve them as good as we can.
For us, helping the hosts to deliver the most terrific group experiences, will help many more guests to embrace a change that is rich in newfound life opportunities (oh, if you like this mission, don't hesitate to DM me!).
Definitely hoping this trend will keep growing as we love the change that these groups of humans are putting into the world.
I can bet on these three trends.
👨💻 Rise of Digital Nomadism and creation of Nomad Villages 👨💻
With digital nomadism still booming, I think entire villages for digital nomads will emerge worldwide, offering plug-and-play living with a strong community vibe.
🌳 Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Travel 🌳
I believe that with an increasing global focus on sustainability, more travelers will choose eco-friendly accommodations and transportation. Destinations promoting sustainable tourism practices will likely see a surge in popularity.
🚀 Space Tourism Escalates 🚀
Even if it will benefit very few people, more private companies are joining the space tourism race. Short orbital trips will become the new ultra luxury escape for those who can afford it.
In 2024 my prediction and my hope is that people will FINALLY embrace the idea that DOMESTIC travel is real travel. Many of us will not have funds for luxury or airfare, so we will gladly do more road trips in our own regions. This will work so well with a healthy and mindful attitude as we comfortably and casually explore art, food, fun, nature, and our hobbies or passions. Embracing domestic road trips is perfect for budget-, senior-, and solo-travel. My wish for you in 2024 is that you find kindness, beauty, and joy on all your journeys.
I think there will be a boom in travel-related products & services, and some new conferences also.
So many great points from the community. Looking back I'm wondering how many last year's predictions came true as well. For me I think the biggest surprise this year was the explosion of Italy as a destination, perhaps it is my social universe but it seems everyone, even those who haven't traveled in years went to Italy in 2023. So I am curious to see which country will get this attention in the coming year.
This mass tourism, however, has proven to not be the best for local communities and their economies (housing esp), environment, and even the travelers themselves (the costs, limited availabilities of everything, the quality of food & service, the air pollution, the traffic...). So my prediction are also somewhat wishlists I suppose:
🧳 More conscious travelers: aware of the landscape, the culture, respectful of the people who live at the destination, and willing to learn. Also willing to go to the lesser popular places or ready to travel off season.
🌳 More slow travel: Longer stays, more remote locations, less packed itineraries, and use of alternative transit options. That's something I'd like to do more of as well, so many amazing train journeys out there! Would've been great to see more affordable train travel in North America TBH.
👑 Travel agents: I know we now have AI to help us plan but that's not for everyone (I could never release that control *she gasps* haha). AI comes with its own issues and learning curves but luxury travel is on the rise (cant buy those homes anyway 😅) and boutique agencies that do bespoke currated itineraries have a place in this market more then ever - hustle free but you still have control over what goes into the travel plans.
A trend that I think we may see is a rise in adventure travel. Perhaps this is because it’s an area of focus for me, but I have come across a number of people planing long distance, overland adventures. Perhaps this is due to a more clearer end to the pandemic, as it took a while for many countries to reopen and I think people are more confident to make bigger plans for 2024. This includes events such as rally’s, expeditions and adventurous trips.
1) Rise in subscription-based travel services (especially in accommodation): We've already seen some of these startup emerge in 2023 like Noad and Flataway:
In 2023, we saw so many new coliving spaces open their doors for digital nomads and remote workers. I imagine there will also be a combined subscription "pass" that allows you to visit few of these coliving spaces with one subscription. I think we'll see more and more partnership in this space.
2) Focus on long form travel content: ChatGPT drastically cut the time for writing articles. I think content creators will try to "oppose" this by creating longer blog content with personal storytelling.
I think search engines like Google might start "penalizing" websites that use mostly ChatGPT generated content and "award" those with 100% original content.
World Nomads and Adventure.Travel just ran a survey of their communities, and found that economic pressures and regional instability are driving 2024 travel decisions. People are taking longer but fewer trips; travel intent to Asia Pacific is on the rise; and travelers are making more sustainable choices. See more details here: www.worldnomads.com/in-the-news/media-releases/2024-travel-trends
While it's already a big trend since the end of the pandemic, I predict will travel even more to nature and specifically the mountains.
With higher temperatures every year, travelers will try to seek out cooler places
Thinking ahead to 2024, I think ther will be a continued focus on sustainable travel, increased tech integration for seamless experiences, and a preference for flexible booking options. Domestic and regional travel might stay strong while health measures and workation trends persist. Always worth staying updated with evolving travel trends!
Sustainable tourism will become ever more important in the industry. We are seeing the implementation of new regulations to protect destinations and the demand from customers is requiring businesses to change. Some ideas how to can be found here: www.sustainandimpact.com
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