The New Tribes of Travel

After an existential crisis brought about by the pandemic, travel suppliers can now afford themselves the luxury of being able to look a little further ahead than the next week. Perhaps they can look forward ten years and understand the travellers of 2033, in a market that will by then be worth $17 trillion. This understanding will not only be guided by the data and emerging technology, but also by changing human behaviour. Only by understanding how their combined thinking and behaviour will change over this period can providers be sure of giving the travellers of the future the right experiences, whether they are travelling for business or pleasure.

Fortunately, help is at hand courtesy of a mammoth piece of work commissioned last year by travel technology company, Amadeus. ‘Traveller Tribes 2033’ is an impressive paper based on research garnered from speaking to 22 experts from inside and outside of the travel business and then polling over 10,000 individual travellers across 15 countries. The result is a definitive guide to what Amadeus believe will be the four ‘travel tribes’ of the future. It takes an eighty-page document to explain the research and describe these future travel archetypes, but I’ll attempt to summarise them for you here.

First up, and by far the largest tribe, are the ‘Pioneering Pathfinders’. 43% of us fall into this group and most of the tribe are between the ages of 23 and 41, with above-average income. They’re progressive, lead fast-paced lives and are always looking forward to their next adventure. They’re risk takers, technologically enabled and sustainability aware. When they’re planning a trip, it’s all about the three Ds – discovery, discomfort and disengagement.

In second place and representing about a quarter of global travellers are the ‘Excited Experientialists’. Apart from sounding by far the most fun of all four tribes, these are the most impulsive travellers with a ‘try it and see’ and ‘you only live once’ (YOLO) approach to travel. For them the experience is everything and, with a higher incomes and flexible working arrangements, it’s all within their reach. They’re instinctive thrill seekers who run a mile from routine.

A more rarefied group are the less impulsive and less affluent ‘Memory Makers’. For this tribe, travel is more about people than planet. This group of over 40s are more likely than the other tribes to travel alone and tend to be creatures of habit. The opportunities of new technology are more daunting than exciting and, as a result, by 2033 they’re less likely to be travelling extensively unless these concerns are addressed. They are also the people you are mostly likely to get stuck with at a party and forced to view all 500 photos from their recent expedition to Nepal.

Finally, the smallest tribe, but in many ways the most interesting for our purposes, are curiously known as the ‘Travel Tech-fluencers’. These are today’s young business travellers. This is the youngest tribe with almost half of them under the age of 32, and three quarters of them travel for business meetings. They’re not the richest of tribes but they are confident that they won’t stay that way for long. This go-getting tribe has two very distinct sides to them which explains some of the anxiety which has come to characterise this generation. They are essentially conflicted as they are both excited and uncertain about travel. They are excited by the possibilities created by new technology, such as AI, but are most concerned about data security.

So, what sort of travel experience in 2033 will suit this tribe of ‘Travel Tech-fluencers’? ?Firstly, we must bear in mind that this tribe like business travel a lot less than their predecessors. They are more suited to the ‘new and novel’. They will be open to using AI and VR to plan their trip and review their choices but, perhaps surprisingly, they will be weary of letting technology take complete control and are as likely as any tribe to still be using TMCs in 2033. They will still travel by air, but their expectations of airports and airlines will increase. They will expect a streamlined experience driven by technology and they will prefer sustainable fuel in the knowledge that the price premium will not be paid by them. They will have an appreciation of the environmental credentials of virtual meetings but will opt for face-to-face meetings if it works better for them and their careers.

When it comes to accommodation, the outward confidence of ‘Travel Tech-fluencers’ once again belies a more traditional approach to deciding where they stay. They want to stay ‘local’ and sustainably, but they are less likely than other tribes to let this stand in the way of using global hotel chains. Similarly, they are more likely to continue to use current payment methods like Apple Pay and Paypal, with data security concerns once again playing a key role.

Clare de Bono, Associate Director Strategy & Transformation and UK Country Manager at Amadeus, sounds a note of caution when it comes to the addressing the needs of the business travelling ‘Travel Tech-fluencers’. While they may represent 15% of travellers worldwide, this percentage can be a lot less in certain countries, notably the UK and Europe at around 2%, while it is a lot higher in the Far East.

She warns that while ‘Travel Tech-fluencers’ are perhaps the ones we should be watching in the business travel space, suppliers should be careful not to go “too far, too fast, but rather in step with the growth of the tribe”. “Be ahead of the market, but only by five minutes,” she says. ?

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