How travel is changing forever - Protein forum
Last night I went went to the latest Protein Forum to find out 'How travel is changing forever'. The organisers produce a beautifully crafted Travel Report which was free to attendees. They opened the evening by talking about Millennial travellers:
This market is going to be huge but many are seeking new ways of exploring the globe. Several themes emerge in the introduction and in the Repor:
- Localism is travel - people are looking for authentic local experiences.
- Experiencing the local culture - people are looking to be embedded in local culture
- Escapism - choosing adventure and exploration as a means of escapism from our all connected world
- They spend a lot of time researching - looking for curated and authentic experiences.
Todays Millennial Travellers are not just travelling more than anyone else, but also changing how we do it.
They also covered the belief that the generation are jaded by user reviews and bite sized guides and that many would prefer to read the long form travel writings and how a mid-Century travel magazine that championed this long form writing got revived.
Along with several case studies the report identifies new tribes of traveller who are looking for new and different experiences, how technology is making travel easier, virtual reality and long form travel journalism to name but a few. Much of it seemed to also relate to the growing maker movement, where people are seeking to detach themselves from technology.
Take a sneek peek at the Travel Report.
Emma Benney - Generator Hostels
Emma talked about how the word Hostel was a bit of a dirty word and how generator are trying to change that by providing a design led experience to their hostels. And with interiors looking like this I think that they could be give some pricier rivals a genuine run for their money.
She talked about how each hostel should create an authentic and local feel to fit in with the new millennial traveller - she called 'MyGen'. She talked about how the hostels should be part of the community they are in and that by providing live events and welcoming locals into shared space it will almost create that authenticity. I know it has made me think twice about hostels.
Florian Siepert - Opentrips
Open trips is a "Meetup for travel". Florian talked about how people make connections with others based on their interests. So for example you may have 'Yoga friends' or 'football friends'. He talked about how the social experience is missing from (budget) travel. Opentrips allows people to post up travel itinerary ideas (often based on interests.) This could be something like posting up an idea of a trip around the UK exploring underground urban landscapes.
The idea is that you can crowdsource ideas and travellers for your trip - finding likeminded people. Package holiday operators would have warmed to the thought that a mass appeal example of this is people going to Magaluf to party.
@opentrips
Alasdair Snow - Triptease
Alasdair talked briefly about his company Triptease before raising his head above the parapet to take a look at things he thought were particularly exciting going on in the market at the moment. These were his top 3
- Vacation futures - He likened them to airbnb but felt that this is "a sign of moving from 1st order digital disruption to second order optimisation".
- Rezguru - A powerful dynamic pricing tool for restaurants - The exciting part is that they are using multiple data sources to optimise revenue. Big data enthusiasts will love this and actually data seemed to be on the minds of all the speakers.
- Superfly - Which helps you manage you travel - again because of the data aspect. He said that businesses who 'customise and personalise experiences for customers' will ultimately be the ones who succeed.
I also made some sketchnotes for the evening.