Weekly Roundup #45: Travel, Tech and Social Media
Week 45/2017
Greetings, everyone and welcome back on our blog, for another Weekly Roundup! Once again, we gathered the most interesting and relevant news and stories that were published this week, so make sure to take a look at the headlines! You will surely find something interesting.
Also, for more daily updates and news, don’t forget to follow our social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Instagram!
Until next Friday, have a lovely weekend!
Industry News
It was another successful and productive week here, at TrustYou, since we have officially welcomed a new partner: Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris! With the majority of hotels based in India, this collaboration comes as a strategic win and a great success for our company and our constant global expansion goals, especially in the APAC area. Taj Hotels is known for its unique collection of iconic hotels, authentic palaces, beach resorts and wildlife safaris lodges across India, North America, United Kingdom, Africa, Middle East, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal. We’re looking forward to providing our guest feedback platform to such a successful chain of hotels and make their guests even happier!
Skyscanner acquires Twizoo to boost user content on hotels:
Skyscanner has acquired Twizoo with terms of the deal undisclosed. The Ctrip-owned metasearch player says it will use Twizoo’s user content from social media alongside existing hotel reviews to help consumers make a more informed decision. The announcement comes a week after the metasearch company announced it would bring in-trip content from Trip.com to its platform following Ctrip’s acquisition of Trip. Skyscanner continues to diversify its offering as do others in the metasearch space.The company also recently acquired Tripl to bring personalisation to hotel recommendations. All these moves are signs of the shifting distribution landscape and how metasearch players are jostling for position.
International Tourism on Track for a Record Year:
Between January and August 2017, destinations worldwide welcomed 901 million international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors), 56 million more than in the same period of 2016. This corresponds to a robust 7% increase, well above the growth of previous years. With upbeat prospects for the remaining months of the year, 2017 is set to be the eighth consecutive year of continued solid growth for international tourism. Results reflect the sustained growth in many destinations combined with the recovery of those suffering from security challenges in recent years. By UNWTO regions, growth was strongest in Africa (+9%) and Europe (+8%), followed by Asia and the Pacific (+6%), the Middle East (+5%) and the Americas (+3%).
Trends and Insights
TrustYou’s Top 5: The Best Designed Hotels Around The World:
Let’s be honest: no one books a hotel blindfolded and basic rooms with outdated furniture just don’t cut it anymore. Saying that hospitality is competitive is an understatement and travelers have a huge amount of options to chose from when it comes to hotels and overall accommodations. A lot of the times, the booking decision is based on visuals. With this in mind, we checked our database and looked for hotels from all around the globe, which have extremely high scores when it comes to design, modern vibe, architecture and so on and once we checked the galleries, we were sold. Make sure to take a look and maybe you’ll find the perfect hotel for your next vacation!
Millennials Are the Most Vacation Deprived:
This week, Expedia.com® released its 2017 Vacation Deprivation® report, an annual study that looks at the vacation habits of more than 30,000 working adults across 30 countries, revealing that Americans are struggling to use their vacation time. Millennials are the most vacation deprived age group (62 percent) and receive the least vacation time. They are also the most likely to shorten their trips due to impending workload (53 percent) compared to their older counterparts. It's not just the millennials who are struggling to achieve work-life balance. Around half of workers in the U.S. report feeling somewhat or very vacation deprived, and in 2017 will fail to use approximately 462 million vacation days.
Top 100 most visited cities and future travel trends revealed by Euromonitor at WTM London:
Euromonitor International and World Travel Market London have released a new report which highlights the key future trends set to shape the travel industry and revealing the most visited cities in the world in terms of international arrivals in 2016, showing also forecast data through to 2025. The report also shows which are the most visited cities and fastest-growing in Europe. According to the report, Hong Kong is the most visited city in the world, followed by Bangkok, which has overtaken London in 2015. Asian cities dominate the global destination rankings thanks to the inexorable rise of Chinese outbound tourism. More interesting findings can be found in the article.
Technology
Which Technologies Are Impacting the Hospitality & Travel Industry?
Several new technologies are changing the travel and hospitality landscape. Some brands are getting ahead of the game by adopting new tech early, and are even setting up their own development studios. It’s a positive sign of how seriously the industry as a whole is embracing technology. Here are the top six technologies that we see making a serious impact on the travel business: mobile technology, virtual and augmented reality, travel bots, wearable gadgets, voice interfaces and the internet of things. More insights about each one can be found in the extended post.
Travelport Global Survey Highlights Different Digital Traveler Habits:
Travelport published this week the results of a Global Traveler Survey of 11,000 people worldwide that highlights the use of digital tools when planning, booking and experiencing a journey. Among the findings from the global report are: 81% use peer to peer reviews when researching a trip; 47% use voice search, using devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, when researching a trip; Nearly 25% of over 55 year olds use a smartphone to research a trip. Also, there is a "love-hate" relationship with digital devices with 60% saying they would be lost without their smartphone whilst 43% also say they want to escape the digital world and switch off when away. Take a look at the extended article for more insights and interesting findings.
