Megatrends 2023

Like it or not, automation via artificial intelligence is coming to the creative side of the travel industry, first marketing and graphic design. Adapting to the inevitable change is key.

A new tier of ultra-luxury has jumped out from the broader commoditized luxury category into a sphere of its own. Brands like Aman and Bvlgari Hotels are catering to the upper echelons of global wealth. As these top-of-the-strata services cost more than ever, an arms race is unfolding for the staff, product, and experience that can keep pace with lofty daily rates and steep checks.

As we look to the future, planning event experiences is not enough. The next iteration of creating events is considering people’s desire for self-improvement and transformation.

Tour operators have long been slow in making technology advances. But the pandemic finally drove them to quickly adopt the platforms necessary to ensure their survival coming out of a crisis that crippled their businesses.

Travel processing delays will stifle and restrict the international growth and connection ambitions of destinations, tour operators, event planners and other travel practitioners. They will have to adapt to the protracted loss of many markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The labor vulnerabilities in travel that emerged from the shadows of the pandemic, from pilot shortages, to travel agents aging out, to low-earning wage workers choosing to opt out, have given rise to new strategies to fill the void.

It will be easy for airlines to make money in 2023, but if they can’t get costs under control it could set the tone for the future.

TikTok is chipping away at Google's travel dominance one 30-second dance at a time. Travel marketers eager to bypass search engines have an opportunity to do so with this new social media platform.

While emotion has always been a part of marketing, appealing to people's feelings has become more central because factors such as changing guest expectations and the rise of new technologies have undermined hotels' customary approach to branding.

The oft-heard rhetoric that India is the next China may finally hold true for travel’s outbound industry as Chinese look at international travel more skeptically.