Travel Megatrends 2019: Brands Give Travelers More Control Over Their Experience
Skift Take
Creation is the new consumption, as travelers weary of commodity travel seek to have a more active role in curating their experiences, and digital platforms more seamlessly mediate in-trip discovery, increasing the opportunity for serendipity.
Booking a trip is complicated, with dozens of platforms and providers jockeying to sell accommodations, flights, and experiences. Yet as travelers have become wiser and more empowered by digital tools, they are now looking to more actively determine the shape and contours of their trips when they are already in a destination. Having an increased level of choice and flexibility at the fingertips of travelers will lead to a new era as travel brands act as trusted guides and enablers of the rarest and most valuable travel phenomenon: serendipity.
The emergence of co-creation and collaboration between travel company and traveler has become perhaps the most impactful change the industry has seen, the end result of a long period of digital development by the global travel sector. The control that travelers now have during every phase of their trip will begin to revolutionize the sector starting in 2019, and smart travel companies are paying attention to ways they can empower their customers without eroding the value of their brand.
For decades, the online travel revolution didn’t really extend to the tours and activities travelers experience during a vacation. Companies like Expedia and ITA Software pioneered the software that undergirded e-commerce for flights in the late 1990s, while Booking.com helped t
