New Travel Inspirations & The Rise of Zero-Worry Travel
In 2023, travelers are looking to new places for inspiration and prioritizing brands that provide worry-free travel experiences
The pandemic has greatly disrupted our travel habits and priorities, and while travel demand has soared again, our travel patterns are no longer the same. Simultaneously, travel inspiration is emerging out of new channels, and brands are competing to provide the most worry-free travel experiences, from booking to emergency plans, to attract travelers with guaranteed peace of mind.
New Travel Inspirations
The last time we wrote about consumer trends in the travel sector in 2021, we focused on the rise of purposeful travel, with emphasis on the emergence of workcations, community-based travel, as well as more eco-conscious travelers. All these trends are still developing and factor into the decision-making process of many travelers:
- At the new Four Seasons Hotel Nashville, a ring light is installed in every room to ensure guests can look their best on Zoom meetings.
- The first carbon negative hotel in the U.S., named Populus, is due to open its doors in Denver, CO soon.
- More rural towns are offering guest experiences that focus on community immersion and authentic local living, such as these two Italian villages in the Alps.
Besides these continuing trends, in 2023, travelers are finding inspiration in new places and channels.
Re-wilding Trips
To begin with, years of pandemic-induced lockdowns sparked a shift away from major tourist attractions toward the great outdoors. More nature-oriented trips, such as the rise in camping and glamping, as well as experiences grounded in nature and wellbeing, are still inspiring many travelers who want to make up for lost time. A 2022 RVIA survey found that 72 million Americans plan on taking an RV trip in 2022.
If you’re not a fan of camping, you can now also get nature to come to your hotel rooms. Studies have shown indoor plants can help reduce stress by improving air quality and providing a connection to nature. No wonder houseplant ownership has been on the rise in recent years. Kimpton Hotels jumped on this trend with a new global “plant pals” program, where guests can select a plant native to the region to liven up their hotel room.
A chaotic few years, replete with natural disasters, political unrest, and, of course, a global pandemic, have led some to lose confidence in the world and the comforts of our modern lives. A survey by Booking.com found 58% of U.S. travelers are looking for ‘off-grid’ style vacations to escape from reality (58%), and switch off and experience life with only the bare necessities (44%).
Some travel marketers are also getting creative with their campaigns, playing into consumers’ heightened demand for outdoor adventure. Iceland Tourism recently launched a campaign that encourages adventurous travelers to consider Iceland as a cheaper (and closer) alternative to space tourism. They even conducted a study about U.S. travelers who are interested in space tourism and found that 42% of them believe that Iceland offers scenery better than they could ever imagine experiencing in space.
Authenticity-Driven Trips
Travel experiences have been dominated by the “do-it-for-the-gram” mentality for the past decade, eroding the “in-the-moment” experience for travelers. Now, however, we are starting to see a growing backlash to this social media-driven travel mindset, as travelers, especially Gen Z travelers, start to consciously push back against this trend in favor of more authentic travel experiences. According to a recent report from Skift, Gen Z travelers are prioritizing the “funny, silly, real moments that make a trip truly memorable” over capturing the perfect photo. They want to experience the local culture, and have a chance to connect with fellow travelers.
In order to appeal to the Gen Z audience, some travel brands are turning to “Instagram alternatives” such as BeReal and TikTok to convey authenticity. Although BeReal prohibits advertising and influencer culture, some brands have gotten creative with real-time posts. For example, Tourism Fiji is one of those brands incorporating the app into its marketing strategy, and it opened an account on the France-based platform in 2022 to give locals an opportunity to show travelers the country outside of its resorts.
To reach a digitally native audience, AR experiences also prove to be an effective way to engage with travelers, especially when it comes to cross-city promotions. Tripadvisor recently paired AR with street murals to promote San Diego as a travel destination. They placed interactive street murals in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, which each includes a QR code that can be scanned to unlock an AR experience and animated GIFs that highlight San Diego landmarks and unique offerings to travelers.
The White Lotus Effect
Of course, we couldn’t talk about travel trends in 2023 without mentioning the impact that pop culture content has on travel inspirations. Destination appeal thanks to hugely popular TV shows or movies is not exactly a new thing: travel toGame of Thrones’ epic shooting locations in Croatia was estimated to have added some $200 million in tourism spend to the country between 2013 and 2018.
Now, popular shows like “The White Lotus” and “Emily in Paris” continue to inspire viewers to venture abroad. In particular, the two Four Seasons resorts featured in the first two seasons of HBO’s hit “The White Lotus” have seen a surge in demand after the series was released, per a report by Bloomberg. It was just announced that the show is heading to Thailand to film its upcoming third season, so expect the luxury resorts in the Southeast Asia region to get a boost in the coming years.
Netflix is also jumping on this trend of content-inspired travel with a multi-city European tour service. Partnering with SANDEMANs New Europe Tours, the global streamer offered free guided walking tours in London, Paris, and Madrid for some lucky fans in summer of 2022, which highlight must-see locations from popular Netflix shows and films, and unveil behind-the-scenes insights from filming.
The Rise of Zero-Worry Travel
While Covid fades from our collective consciousness but fears of climate change and political unrest rise, travelers crave worry-free travel experiences, from booking and planning to the guest experience itself.
In the past, travelers were willing to put up with a certain amount of hassle and uncertainty in exchange for the excitement of seeing new places and meeting new people. Coming out of the pandemic, however, travelers have increasingly suffered delays, cancellations, and other disruptions to their travel plans. And because we live in a connected age, bad experiences travel at the speed of social. The debacle of the Southwest Airlines system meltdown in December was a recent example of how social media pile-on can amplify travelers’ anxiety.
As a result, travelers are looking for travel brands that can provide them with a sense of security and peace of mind. They want to know that their travel plans are in good hands and that they will be taken care of every step of the way. In response, travel brands and services can meet this demand by providing travelers with features and amenities that aim to make travel easier and more enjoyable.
For example, Google recently rolled out some impressive changes to its travel booking site, including a new “price guarantee” feature for select flights that depart from the United States. If you book one of these flights through Google Flights, Google will monitor its price up until departure and refund you the difference via Google Pay if the price drops. This eliminates one of the main points of tension in travel planning — the possibility of overpaying for a flight — and makes it easier for budget-conscious travelers to book their flights without spending weeks monitoring the flight prices.
Speaking of budget-conscious travelers, ongoing inflation will have a significant impact on travel planning in 2023. According to Skyscanner’s 2023 travel trends report, consumers are looking to make better, more informed decisions about their discretionary spending, with 46% of travelers planning the same number of vacations in 2023 as 2022, and 41% thinking of going on even more trips in 2023. In addition, more than half of respondents shared that rising costs and inflation are factors in their travel booking decisions, and travelers are looking to visit places where their currency will go further.
Another aspect of zero-worry travel is making sure your accommodations live up to their pictures. Vacation rental Vrbo offers many reassuring features, including providing a back-up option: If you can’t get into the property or if you discover that it was significantly misrepresented online (fewer bedrooms, material defects, etc.), Vrbo has a dedicated customer service team that will try to find you comparable accommodations nearby to minimize disruptions to your trip.
Moreover, 360-degree immersive previews for hotel rooms are also proving to be a good way for travelers to book with confidence. Hotel chains such as Hilton and Shangri-La have offered immersive VR tours of their properties as a way to attract prospective guests. A 2022 study conducted by Booking.com, which comprised over 24,000 participants from 32 countries, found that 43% of respondents were interested in using virtual reality to help them decide on their vacation destinations.
Many travelers have turned to travel insurance to mitigate anxiety around emergencies while traveling, and we are seeing new developments in this sector as well. For example, travel insurance is expanding to cover pets in addition to their human parents. Travel Insurance provider Battleface recently announced its partnership with BringFido to provide pet travel insurance coverage. Designed specifically to protect pets and their owners while traveling domestically or internationally, the partnership will offer BringFido customers protection that covers medical expenses for pets if they fall sick while traveling, as well as reimbursement for lost or stolen pet items.
In addition, anxiety among travelers around trip disruptions can also be partly attributed to the rise of climate change-induced uncertainty. Climate change is making weather patterns more extreme and unpredictable, which inevitably causes flight cancellations, heat waves, and even wildfires. This can make it difficult to plan for travel, as it is not always clear what the weather will be like at a particular destination. For example, extreme heatwaves in Europe and India in recent years have made it difficult for travelers to enjoy outdoor activities.
Travel brands can help reduce travelers’ anxiety by providing them with flexible cancellation policies and travel insurance that protect from the financial losses that can result from climate change-related disruptions. In addition, travel brands can play a role in reducing the impacts of climate change by investing in renewable energy, reducing their carbon emissions, and supporting sustainable tourism initiatives. By taking these steps, travel brands can help to create a more sustainable future for travel and tourism.
Overall, by providing travelers with a worry-free travel experience, travel brands can build trust and loyalty with their customers. This can lead to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth marketing.
Want to learn more?
At the Lab, we’re always keeping a close eye on the future of travel and hospitality. If you wish to dive deeper into this report, or simply start a conversation around emerging travel trends in 2023, including everything we mentioned in this article, plus the impact of generative AI on the travel sector, please reach out to our Group Director Josh Mallalieu at josh@ipglab.com.
