Skift Take

Mining deeper into the demographics identified one year ago, our focus now turns to direct accounts of how “silent” travel occurs, as told to Skift by individuals who identify as being part of this category.

Today we are launching the latest report in our Skift Trends Reports service, Mobile First and the Silent Traveler in 2015.

In 2014, we looked at the silent traveler as a demographic. This year’s report mines the stories and experiences of these trip-takers.

Who is the silent traveler? He or she is a tech-savvy consumer in their 20s and 30s who highly values both person-to-person inspiration and sharing among his social network. That says, they are difficult to reach and convert. Today’s silent travelers are almost always mixing business and leisure travel during the same trip, they are steering clear of conventional marketing and travel agencies and packages, and they are traveling in groups as much as they are journeying alone. Their destinations are often highly personal and not often the typical cities and attractions that other travelers tend to select.

Brands attempting to capture, understand, and win the business of the silent traveler are faced first with the prospect of having to initiate a personalized experience. Storytelling and social influencers figure into this process, as do approaches that solve for particular complications and challenges that the independent and self-reliant traveler might find insurmountable without some of the traditional resources that agencies and package trips can include. Messaging these advantages in ways that align with the kinds of travel the “silent” demographic prefers is critical to reaching them with these opportunities.

This report also looks at the re-crafting of legacy kinds of travel — cruises and resorts, for example — in new ways that appeal to the silent-traveler mindset. What’s more, innovations when it comes to big data will almost certainly play a role. As efforts get underway to mine large percentages of data still dark to many marketers, a deeper understanding of the silent traveler’s demographic is poised to unfold.

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NOTE: We have moved away from the PDF format for reports; now you can read them in the new, online HTML5 responsive-design format. Check out an example here.

About These Reports

This is the 39th in a series of twice-monthly trends reports that brief readers on a specific trend, providing insight into the current state of the market, the context around the trend, and where the industry is heading in the near future.

After you subscribe, you will receive two reports every month — 24 in a year. Reports are available online in a responsive design format, or you can also buy each report a la carte at a higher price.

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Tags: research reports, silent traveler

Photo credit: Brands wanting to reach this generation of silent travelers should think mobile first. Sascha Kohlmann / Flickr

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