What are the major factors influencing travelers to book their next trip?

Most of the time when we are looking for a travel destination to choose from many, we either rely on friends’ recommendations or travel influencers/experts. Selecting a specific place for your vacation takes time and requires money. So when we take that decision we often think and plan in advance.

People usually trust mainly on their friends’ experience or others reviews on social media. A research conducted among 15 000 international tourists shows that approximately 40% choose a destination suggested by their friends[1].

Travelers care much less about promotions, discounts and deals on trips, they are more influenced by the overall experience they will get.

A major factor that influences people to travel is with whom they will travel with rather than where and when. We, at 15toGO, recognized a major problem which relates to the fact it is not so easy to find the right people to travel with. And we don’t claim that people do not have friends, everyone does, however sometimes it is even harder to organize those people to travel with you. Therefore, we are focusing on providing a solution to others in order to plan their trip hassle-free and find new travel buddies.

Helping people to find new friends to travel with and connecting them with their existing ones and thus we are adding an impulsive buying element in the travel booking process.

What does that mean for the travelers?

We believe that people will book their next experience by choosing the group they would love to join and follow their travel buddies.

What does that mean for the Local Tour Operators (LTOs)?

LTOs will be able to see who is coming on a particular trip and they will be able to curate the experience for the whole group. Also, they are not going to invest a fortune for advertising but they will be able to pay in tokens to influencers from the community to promote their trips and bring more people on board for a certain tour.

I will mainly look at one specific generation, the Millennials, which soon will be accounted for the biggest consumer group in the travel industry. According to Pricewaterhouse in 2020, Millennials will reach more than the half of the global workforce. They act and travel differently compared to previous generations and they adopt new technologies easily, as they also called “tech savvy”. There are a few main motivators which inspire people to book a holiday to a particular destination. Millennials often travel to escape reality and seek authentic experiences and adventures. They are interested in exploring the historical background and indigenous culture, and tasting the local cuisine. There is one phenomenon which has been distinguished, the Prosumerism. In the travel industry, the presumption is linked with the customization of products, in which customers are typically Millennials, who seek the information on the Internet rather than on the mass market. Thus Prosumers are characterized as people who avoid traditional media and are mostly to the personal customization and innovation. These travelers make their booking choices based on products and services which reflect their personality. Although the main motivator for booking is memorable and authentic experiences, the price is still an important factor when choosing a holiday. Moreover, travelers are keen on exploring the local places, looking for individualized, cultural experiences. They want to know the local culture, habits and people.

From my personal experience, and I have been to many places on different continents, traveling in a group of people most of the time. I’ve noticed that firstly the locals knew much better what to show you and where to go. For example, in the Maldives, they knew exactly where and what time to go so we can see and swim with wild dolphins. And this won’t be possible if you rely on the Outgoing Travel Agencies. Secondly, they are proud of what they have and preserve their nature and historical heritage. Locals are there to help you explore the destination and tell more about specific places. You can be part of their everyday life, live and eat like the locals. It’s really exciting to “dive” in their lives and see the world from a different perspective.

Therefore, we, at 15toGO believe that the Local Tour Operators, so-called the locals, should earn more as they reveal the true beauty of their cultures while the Customers a.k.a the Travelers should pay less and enjoy personalized experiences that will remember their whole life.

If you are a traveler, who is looking for the right people to travel with, check 15toGO’s website to learn more about our concept and subscribe so we can keep you updated.

15toGO — MATCH. BOOK. TRAVEL.

Are you ready to GO?

References

[1]Experts vs. Friends: The Definitive Guide to Who Influences Us and Why, https://medium.com/bestcompany/experts-vs-friends-the-definitive-guide-to-who-influences-us-and-why-6a0aa609c8c0