- The Nickel-and-Diming of Airline Passengers
- The Commercialization of the Airline and Cruiseship Activity
- The Substitution of Apartments and Vacation Homes for Hotel Rooms
- The Meteroric Rise of Dubai
- Ireland and China Were the Top Travel Bargains
- The Increasing Operation of Quirky Day Tours in Major Tourist Cities
- The Emergence of Bundled AirFares Sold Only by the Airline Themselves
- The Explosive Growth in 2012 of River Cruising and Cheap Intercity Buses
From my perspective as a tourism professor, I would like to add two trends to his list. The first is the continuing sophistication of the festival and event industries. Festivals and events are starting to introduce revenue management strategies. One only has to look at the number of sports teams that are introducing premium priced games or festivals that are charging higher rates in an effort to maximize revenues during high demand periods. Further, the marketing strategies employed by the festival and events industry is becoming increasingly sophisticated as those in the industry become more comfortable with the online world This is especially true in that the festival and events industry are catching up with hotel and airline industries in relation to distribution and ticket sales technology.
The second trend I wanted to add could be viewed as rather unfortunate. Three years ago the word 'green' was coming out of everyone's mouth. In the past year, that word and the philosophy that goes with it, has seemed to have lost momentum within the industry. Customers just did not demand 'green' products in the way that many predicted, so businesses have quietly let the trend go away. This was in part due to the recession causing the market to become more price sensitive but the intrinsic desire towards this movement has also seemed to lose steam.
I have told you my trends, now tell me what you saw as the top travel and tourism trend last year, I'd love to hear from you.
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