Archives for June 2008
Towards more travel and greener times ahead
By Janchrister Egnefors, April 2007It’s hard to predict the future. But now we’ve produced a global trend report together with a company specialising in researching the future in order to provide some kind of idea of where we’re headed, and to allow services to be developed which may help progress in the industry.
This report shows that consumer behaviour in our industry has changed and that technology will have a bigger part to play in travel than it does at present. The report presents four groups which have their own particular influence on travel and which will be putting pressure on us from all sides. Global business travellers who jet around the world in their private planes, groups of active pensioners – already growing, as we can see. We’ll also be seeing more city commuters leaving their cars at home and using aircraft to get about instead. We’re also meeting people in various parts of the world as a result of this increase in travel, and this might result in families being spread out across various countries.
Sustainable development This report shows that travel will increase in future – both private trips and business travel. Fantastic news for all of us in the industry – but it also means greater responsibility on our shoulders to offer and supply environmentally friendly options. Air travel has been the subject of much attention recently as regards issues such as carbon dioxide emissions and penalty taxes. The solutions to the problem of the environment are in their infancy as yet, but I hope and believe we’ll find the answer.
But air travel shouldn’t bear all the responsibility alone. More and more people are also starting to show an interest in making sure their destinations are environmentally friendly as well. At the moment, ecotourism is one of the fastest growing segments of global tourism. Our aim is to achieve sustainable development of tourism in vulnerable areas and – in the long run – all over the world. Ecotourism is widespread throughout the world, and in some places it’s actually helped animals such as gorillas and whales to survive. But ecotourism isn’t just something that happens a long way away. In Sweden, there are now 75 companies which have complied with all 300 criteria required to receive the “Naturens Bästa” – Nature’s Best – quality accreditation. As you know, the countryside in Sweden is unique, so there are enormous opportunities for holidays or conferences which will really be something to remember. Find out more and meet Maria Kjellström at Svenska Ekoturismföreningen in an interview in this issue.
The future’s bright for the industry, and I’m extremely confident in our abilities to come up with environmentally friendly solutions for our services.
Janchrister Egnefors
New features for Amadeus Cars
April 2007Things are going well for the Amadeus car rental system. In 2006, rentals increased by five percent over the previous year. In order to further improve its offering, in the next few months Amadeus will be launching several new functions in the booking system for car rental, Amadeus Cars Reservation.
Currently, the bulk of car reservations are made through the computer system Complete Access Plus. Information on rates and availability in Amadeus Cars Reservation is taken directly from the car rental firm’s own reservation system.
“As the information comes direct from the source, there is no need for storage in the Amadeus database. This means that Amadeus Cars always has the right pricing and vehicle availability details, which makes things easier for the travel agency,” explains Mildrid Amundsen, Product Manager at Amadeus.
All the latest types of vehicle have been entered into the booking system, from urban 4×4’s to environmentally friendly hybrid cars.
This spring will see several new features being launched, all linked directly to the car rental firm’s own systems. For example, the person booking will soon be able to view lists of all car rental firms in a particular area, along with information about each rental office (including which vehicles the office uses, any extra equipment, what insurance is offered and details of taxes and charges).
Many car rental firms now also support Amadeus’s new e-voucher, which can generally be used when a customer pays in advance for a rental car.
Car booking can be further simplified with the help of “smartkeys”. The person booking can preprogramme recurring booking information, and so does not need to manually re-enter codes and commands time after time.
“Previously, Amadeus Cars could perhaps be considered slightly tricky to navigate, but we have worked hard to rectify that. Constant improvement has made booking a rental car nice and easy for our clients,” concludes Mildrid Amundsen.
Deeper holiday experiences as an ecotourist
April 2007Ecotourism is becoming increasingly popular as a holiday option, with Sweden leading the way. Despite its rather dry sounding name, ecotourism is often a real adventure, which may explain the increased demand.
The idea behind ecotourism is that tourism should help to protect nature and show consideration for the local population. Animal species such as gorillas and whales are to some extent protected by ecotourism, as they are of more value as living tourist attractions. Sweden itself is offering more alternatives for ecotourists. Riding, bear watching, seal safaris, white water rafting and caving are just a few of the experiences that the Swedish countryside has to offer.
“We usually say that ecotourism should be more fun than a normal holiday,” comments Maria Kjellström, company adviser at the Swedish Ecotourism Association. “The focus is on experiencing nature, whether by hiking, going on wildlife safari or dogsledding.”
Sweden is the only country in the world with clearly defined criteria for certifying ecotourism companies. So far, around 75 companies have met the 300 criteria required for the quality label “Naturens Bästa” (Nature’s Best). Several other countries are now seeking to copy the concept, which the Swedish Ecotourism Association sees as a positive thing. Every country has its own charm and something unique to offer. “One of my favourite destinations is Transylvania in Romania,” explains Maria.
“I’ve been with my family several times, staying at various guesthouses in the villages of the Carpathian mountains. The pastoral tradition is strong and if you travel in the spring, you can get up close to the grazing animals. In Sweden, I usually recommend Jämtland, which has an extremely wide range of ecotourism attractions.”
One particular subset of ecotourism is agritourism. This type of holiday is offered on farms and usually involves tourists taking part in the day-to-day farm work. Agritourism is often offered in the winegrowing regions of Italy, France and Spain, but you can find plenty of places that farm things other than grapes. Some places accept tourists for longer periods, usually one or two weeks. The visitors usually work on the farm for free and in return receive board and lodging.
In Sweden, looking after reindeer with the Sami up in Lapland has become a popular holiday option. For a couple of days, tourists get to help the Sami in their daily work with the reindeer. The level of authenticity and the closeness to the Lapland countryside and Sami culture make this an experience never to be forgotten.
Scandinavians fly south to avoid fickle spring weather
April 2007Spring can be a fickle time of year in Sweden and the other Nordic countries. Lovely spring weather can quickly turn to snow and cold, icy winds. And each time, we pale Scandinavians stand there disappointed, with our new sunglasses and spring shoes. Maybe it is the unreliability of spring that makes us Nordic folk want to travel on minibreaks at this time of year.
“Spring (April and May) is our absolute peak season for weekend trips,” explains Marie Söderlund at travel agency Ticket. “There are lots of public holidays and people are desperate for a taste of the sun. The vast majority of people travel south, where spring is slightly more advanced than here at home.”
“If the winter has been long and cold, there is greater demand for holidays during the spring months. You notice a clear difference. However, if we have a warm and beautiful spring, things are a little quieter in the office,” comments Annika Björkroth at Travel Beyond.
In contrast to holidays during the rest of the year, spring breaks mainly involve cities. The big favourite for Scandinavians is to seek out the earliest hints of summer in southern Europe. Paris, Rome and Barcelona have been some of the classic favourites over the past few springs.
For a city break, Barcelona is the ultimate weekend destination, according to Marie Söderlund. The city offers everything you could want – warmth, culture and outdoor dining, as well as a bit of a Latin temperament that makes the city feel much more exotic than London or Paris.
Classic beach holiday destinations such as Tenerife and the Canary Islands are becoming less popular. Instead, the trend is towards weekend trips to classic charter destinations such as Malaga and Palma.
“With Sterling and other scheduled airlines flying direct to these destinations, a long weekend in Palma is now perfect possible,” says Annika Bjökroth. “The flight is no more than four hours, and Palma is a city with a great deal to offer. It’s really trendy, and there is a whole host of really cool hotels attracting discerning guests from around the world.”
Travellers’ future needs change the travel industry
April 2007The travel industry is facing major changes, if it is to serve the travellers of the future. This is the conclusion of a trend report which Amadeus commissioned from future-facing research consultants Henley Centre HeadlightVision. The report, Future Traveller Tribes 2020, is the first of its kind to take account of changes in economics and politics, as well as consumer behaviour and technology.
In 15 years time, consumer behaviour in the travel industry will have changed fundamentally, with technical innovations playing a greater role in travel processes. Against this background, it has been possible to identify four different groups of travellers who will be driving the development of the travel industry, not least in technical terms.
Firstly, we have the global business travellers. They are a type of elite traveller using private jets to shuttle between the leading economies of the future, which will be Brazil, Russia, India and China. Another new group of travellers is active pensioners. These are all rich, healthy, older travellers aged between 50 and 75. They will be travelling the world on cultural trips and holidays to a considerably greater extent than is currently the case. Then we have city commuters who live in one city and work in another which is considerably further away. This distance means that they have to fly to get from home to work and back again. And finally the global relatives will affect the future of the travel industry. As we become more and more likely to have family members living in distant places around the world, there will be considerable traffic generated as relatives fly to visit family.
Technical innovations will be more noticeable in every part of travelling. From booking and check-in to the aircraft and then to baggage reclaim, technology will be responsible for the greatest changes. The phenomenon, called technology humanisation, explains how the technology of the future will be intuitive, predicting and meeting the unique needs of each traveller.
The new technology brought up in the report includes RFID labelling of both travellers and their luggage. The idea is that this barcode technology will simplify check-in and baggage reclaim. What is more, the travellers of the future will purchase their flight tickets from robotic self-service kiosks, and the rigorous security checks will be simplified with the help of new ID documents containing both biometric facts about the individual and information about their travel plans.
If you’d like to read the whole report, download Future Traveller Tribes 2020 here.
TUR revisited
April 2007With almost 50 000 visitors and exhibitors from a hundred or so countries, it’s fair to say that this year’s TUR trade fair in Gothenburg was every bit as successful as it’s been in previous years.
This trade fair has really become the obvious choice for the travel industry – globally as well as locally. And of course, Amadeus was there this year too – standing shoulder to shoulder with travel agency clients, airlines, hotels, hire car companies and all the other companies that go to make up the travel industry.
Amadeus would like to thank all of its clients who took part in meetings during TUR, everyone who joined in to learn more about the courses Amadeus offer, and not least everyone who visited the Amadeus stand. One of these visitors to our stand was pretty lucky, actually – or was she just really good at counting? Whichever it was, Jenny Hansson of Resia in Lysekil won the Amadeus “Guess the number of marbles in the jar” competition.
The right answer was 486 – 486 marbles, representing the 486 saleable airlines in Amadeus systems as per 22 March 2007. Jenny guessed 482, which makes her the winner of an iPod nano 4 Gb, (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition, and part of the purchase price will be donated to the Global Fund to help combat HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Congratulations, Jenny!
Next year’s TUR trade fair will be taking place on 13-16 March.
Find out more about Global Fund and (PRODUCT) RED at www.joinred.com
