Demand for leisure travel services will continue to outpace demand for business travel services, and family travel (adults with children) will continue to grow at a faster rate than all other forms of leisure travel, according to a number of predictions for 2007 made by marketing and public relations firm Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell (YPBR) in its 2006 e-newsletter. The agency also projects that practically all travel suppliers will attempt to raise fares and/or rates.
YPBR also expects the internet will continue to dominate the headlines about travel planning and booking; however, the incidence of internet usage by both business and leisure travellers to plan some aspect of travel is expected to remain flat, while the incidence of its usage to actually book reservations will continue to grow (but at a significantly lower rate than we have observed during the past three years). Comparison shopping of suppliers' fares and rates (and the corresponding "price transparency") will become more commonplace as consumers discover the power of the nascent meta search engines such as kayak.com, qixo.com and the like.
The new "lifestyle" hotel brands, such as NYLO and ALOFT, will continue to gain both exposure and popularity among the next generation of travellers (the "Millennials"), and the concept of "inclusive pricing" (one price for a bundle of basic services) will grow in popularity beyond destination resorts to include commercial hotels.
The agency projects that interest in spa-going will continue to grow as more consumers seek ways to manage the mounting stress in their lives, the cruise industry will continue to enjoy remarkable growth, the new .travel internet domain will continue to grow in popularity as suppliers seek to market their products and services in a more refined online environment, and in general (barring the impact of any catastrophic political, economic, social or terrorist event in the months ahead), 2007 should be another year for the record books!
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