Estimated at $639 billion, wellness tourism is expected to be a according to a report from the Global Wellness Institute. When ĚÇĐÄVlogtook a look at wellness travel trends last year, we found several sectors were finding ways to offer travelers easy access to things like healthy menus, meditation apps and in-room fitness equipment. Today, many wellness travel trends mirror those of the overall travel industry—with a twist.

Wellness travel trend 1: More travelers spending more

Global tourism continues to grow, but in the wellness tourism world, it is growing at twice the rate of general tourism. According to the Global Wellness Institute’s (GWI) 2018 report, , from 2015 to 2017 wellness tourism grew at a rate of 6.5%, while all tourism grew by 3.2%.

According to the GWI report, wellness travelers spend more, on average, than other types of travelers. In 2017, they , 58% more than other international travelers. When traveling domestically, wellness travelers spent an average of $609 per trip, an impressive 178% more than the average traveler.

Recent research by Skift found that in trips. Last fall, the Wellness Tourism Association (WTA) shared the results of its first survey. The WTA found 63% of respondents had taken a “wellness vacation,” and the other 37%, who had not been on such a vacation were interested in one.

Similar to all travel, much of the wellness travel trend is towards growth is coming from developing markets. GWI explains that Asia-Pacific, Latin America-Caribbean, Middle East-North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa represent since 2015. During that time, Asia has become number one in wellness trip and revenue growth.

For more on international travel trends and challenges see: International Payments A Top Concern As Global Travel Grows

Wellness travel trend 2: Experiences to suit all interests

The value today’s consumers place on experiences over things can’t be overstated, and a key wellness travel trend is definitely is the call for experiences.

Sarah Casewit, co-founder of Naya Traveler, told CNN’s Nora Zelevansky, “People’s understanding of and an infinity pool: [It’s] a wholesome, all-encompassing theme that explores the healing elements of physical treatments, as well as spirituality, cuisine and art, within the cultural context.”

The health and wellness offerings of luxury hotels continue to evolve. Several U.S. properties are adding more in-room amenities, including the Georgetown (Washington, DC) Ritz-Carlton. Their “wellness rooms” offer showerheads releasing vitamin C-infused water, sound and sleep machines, air purifiers and yoga mats. are approximately 10% higher than those for a similarly sized deluxe room.

Three Swiss five-star Giardino Hotels offer (the Hindu system of medicine based on physical and energy types). Stays range from three to 21 days and may come with an Ayurvedic doctor’s services, such as a pulse diagnosis. Red Mountain Resort in Utah has an executive health and wellness program that provides genetic testing to look for mutations linked to cancer risks.

The concept of a “retreat” has been in the mainstream consciousness for generations. The 2019 version includes . Here are just a few of 13 retreat types included in 2019 wellness travel trends:

• A “painmoon” is time for a traveler to get specialized treatment that can help them recover from the loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship or a period of depression.
• “Wellness mumcations” are designed to give mothers a break from their children and an opportunity to recharge.
• “New middle-aged man” getaways have been created in response to an increase in men over 50 taking wellness trips

Wellness travel trend 3: Solo wellness trips popular

Solo travel showed up as a top wellness travel trend on many 2019 lists.

WTA’s findings show wellness travel is no different. They report nearly 25% of respondents prefer solo travel, and cite the experiences of several properties. The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Canada’s Banff Nation Park says solo female travelers purchased 50% of their wellness packages. That figures rises to 75% when looking specifically at three- and four-night stays. Canyon Ranch has a similar mix of solo travelers, but they are also seeing an increase in men traveling alone.

For more on solo travel trends see: Getting to Know the Solo Woman Traveler

Wellness travel trend 4: Demand for options in trip length

Another key wellness travel trend is for customized trip lengths. Some wellness travelers opt for long annual getaways to focus on making significant changes to their health, while others prefer making several shorter trips to recharge throughout the year.

Ehotelier reports that over the past three years, New Life Hiking Spa in Vermont has seen a 90% , which led them to add a 21-night retreat. Hilton Head Health, a South Carolina weight loss retreat, finds that guests are maintaining their long-term wellness commitment by taking shorter trips two to four times a year, and 20% of their guests have planned their next visits before leaving.  

Wellness travel trend 5: A cure for over-tourism?

Like the overall travel industry, an important wellness travel trend is the growing concern over the impact of over-tourism. The subject is a major topic for the upcoming , which addresses a variety of topics related to wellness.

It was a topic at last year’s summit as well. Speakers noted that wellness travel has a positive role to play; particularly since wellness travel and wellness destinations often are intentionally off the beaten path or in regions that don’t attract hordes of travelers. In addition, a large segment of wellness travel focuses on nature and the environment, and this group of travelers will likely be motivated to look for travel options that are sustainable and eco-friendly.

Emerging wellness travel trends to watch

Wellness travel, specifically its role in marketing travel, is included in .Ěý As Leslie Barrie wrote for Skift.com earlier this year, but based on the numbers it looks like it could be more than a moment.

In her piece, Barrie quotes one of the co-founders of the Wellness Tourism Association, Andrew Gibson, “I don’t think wellness is a fad, but rather it’s a change in society, and what society now expects. We’ve seen wellness become a full-blown industry.” And that doesn’t seem like a bad thing.

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Fromm isn’t the only one seeing this growing trend. Speaking at last summer’s Virtuoso Travel Week, Jenny Graham explained, “We see the of the families.”ĚýExpedia Media Group’s extensive report found children influence the choice of destination (64%) and other components of a family trip—activities (57%), trip length (37%) and hotel selection (37%).

Gen Alpha: The First True Digital Natives

Gen Alpha is made up of the children born (and yet to be born) between 2010 and 2025. An Australian researcher, Mark McCrindle, who came up with the Generation Alpha term as one that will be the most educated, most tech-savvy and wealthiest generation ever.

Henry Rose Lee, an intergenerational leadership expert sees similarities, shared values, between Millennials parents and their Gen Alpha children on the subject of travel. Both focus on experiences and how those experiences will play out on social media, particularly for the thousands of Gen Alpha kids who already are influencers.

Anthony Goldman, Joint Managing Director of Goldman Travel Corp. recognizes the influence of Gen Alpha’s social media focus is having. “They’re using travel and Instagram and other social media to as they grow up.”

Millennials, Boomers & Gen Alpha Creating Closer Families

Parenting is important to them and they are more likely to say being a parent is extremely important than previous generations. Gen Alpha grandparents, who are mostly Baby Boomers, are physically and financially healthy and retired. So, they’re perfect for (skip-gen) vacations according to TravelAge West.Ěý Family travel has grown steadily over the past 20 years, so Millennials and their Baby Boomer parents are accustomed to .

Viacom International Media Network’s study for Nickelodeon, Ěýis based on a survey of 6,900 children and 8,700 parents in 11 countries. The overall finding was that parents and children have different relationships now than in past generations.

• Parents believe they are closer to their children than their parents were to them (70%)
• Parents were more afraid of disobeying their parents than their children are of disobeying them (61%)
• Parents consider their child to be one of their best friends (83%)
• Parents solicit and consider their kids’ opinions when making purchases (71%-US and 94%-internationally)

Understanding Generation Alpha, a Hotwire study of 8,000 Millennial parents worldwide, found that 65% of all parents (80% of US parents) said their children’s habits influenced their last purchase.

When the purchase is travel, children have a large role to play. According to the HomeAway Kidfluencer survey, conducted by YouGov in the US, UK, France, Germany and Spain, 87% of parents around the world include their children’s opinion in vacation planning, and 33% of US Millennial parents give their kids full control over the final vacation decision. Yet do the same.

The study also found 60% of parents said their children would enjoy the vacation more if they had input. Fifty-four percent also admitted that they do so to show their kids they care about their opinions, while 53% want to get them excited about the trip.

Expedia Media Group’s Gen Alpha report identified other ways in which children are impacting their families’ trips. According to the survey of more than 9,000 consumers across nine countries with children or grandchildren aged nine or younger:

• Planning a family trip is a for the entire family (80%)
• Travel ideas come from both children and adults (60%)
• Families with Gen Alphas take an average of three trips per year, and one of them is a bleisure trip

Children’s Influence On Purchases: Then & Now

The Nickelodeon study found children’s influence about purchases has increased significantly over the years and that unlike previous generations, is now almost entirely collaborative.

Earlier studies support this. Thirty years ago, researchers were just on family purchases, reports the Association for Consumer Research. Prior to that, family decision-making research focused on spousal influence.

The research found children did have an influence on products for them but also had some influence on family leisure time activities (including vacations).

Then, in 2008, survey findings published in the Innovative Marketing journal showed an increase in influence, though not at the level found today. Again, it was primarily for children’s products. When it comes to suggesting buying a product—specifically a vacation, 42.2% take their children’s opinion into account, and 38.4% said their children have no influence on the decision.

Reaching Gen Alpha Travelers

If Gen Alpha has a position of great influence in the family when it comes to travel, how do travel companies get their attention?

The Nickelodeon study found that nearly 70% of children , 63% get the information online and 57% from ads. With reduced TV viewing, children are more likely to see digital ads and , as reported by AdAge.

CMI Media recommends that brands prioritize social media and that they are active and genuine. They predict that influencers will be more important than ever with many of the Gen Alpha children already developing YouTube content and starting blogs. Ěý with their own Instagram pages and YouTube channels are an effective way to reach Gen Alpha according to AdAge. There’s even a 7-year-old boy from Texas who’s been doing online toy reviews for several years and now has 18 million subscribers.

Virtuoso’s research into found they want activity, variety and exploration. And like their parents, kids also want bragging rights. “They want a good story to tell their friends, a story that’s Instagrammable. They need visual locations,” said Misty Ewing Belles, Virtuoso’s Managing Director, Global Public Relations. “They like to influence others, again through social media, but also through word-of-mouth. They want to be influential in their own spheres.”

Travel companies need to understand family decision-making. For example, keeping the entire family entertained and safe in a kid-friendly environment is as the Expedia research found, so leading with the best deal, may not be the way to attract family trips. Travel marketers need to be sure to remember Gen Alpha in their advertising and branding.

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According to the ĚÇĐÄVlog2019 U.S. Travel Trends Report, based on a primary consumer research survey conducted by Mastercard Advisors for WEX, nearly half of Millennials (45%) and over a third of Gen Z travelers (37%) are very or extremely likely to book a flight after receiving a personalized notification. Gen X was only slightly less inclined, with 35%, while only 20% of Boomers were likely to do the same.

Taking this idea a step further, the survey asked if travelers would allow a computer to plan a whole trip based on data from their travel history. The results were similar, with Millennials the most receptive at 33%, followed by Gen Z at 32%. Gen X was less comfortable with this idea, with only 24% saying they agree completely or somewhat that they are comfortable with this ideal, and only 13% of Boomers agreed.

While these stats show Boomers may not be keen on digital recommendations, it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in personalized experiences. Boomers, particularly in the luxury segment, are looking more to travel advisors to create a personalized, authentic travel experience. They are not giving up on the human touch.

Another survey undertaken by , echoes the themes in the ĚÇĐÄVlogreport and shows that younger generations are not just open to personalization, but expect it. And often, these expectations are not being met by travel companies. Millennials, in particular, report that they are not impressed with how their favorite travel brands are anticipating their needs. An additional survey by found that travel executives are aware of this shortfall, more than a third of travel executives felt their personalization efforts could be improved.

Many travel brands are investing, experimenting, and finding new ways to deliver their customers a personalized experience:

• has a team in Bethesda, Maryland, that monitors real-time social media activity worldwide, waiting for an opportunity (such as an engagement announcement) to surprise and delight guests at their properties.
• Hotel giant, , is using personalized email – 1.2 billion a year – to enhance the digital experiences of customers and partners. This effort is part of a five-year, €225 million digital strategy.
• is also making large investments in technology in order to aid in personalization efforts.Ěý They have focused on bringing more IT and data analytics expertise to their team to help translate traveler data to personalized recommendations, a la Amazon.

These efforts show that travel companies are committed to delivering on the promise of technology to make experiences more personalized. Travelers, particularly the younger generations, are eager for companies to make smart, data-driven recommendations that steer them toward the best choice. These tendencies present a huge opportunity to reach consumers directly on the path to purchase. The right approach can sway them toward your brand versus your competitor. Ěý

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Acting Fast Pays Off…

Launched this summer, HotelTonight’s Today’s Daily Drop is aimed squarely at millennials and makes use of gamification. This unique take on opaque (price-hidden) deals is a once-a-day, 15-minute opportunity. According to HotelTonight’s CEO Sam Shank, “Deals are and often at prices that are better than opaque sites.”

Writing for fastcompany.com, Rina Raphael describes Daily Drop as a “more rewarding experience for users looking to snag the ultimate deal.” Stays can be booked up to 100 days in advance, and they’re non-refundable.

“Users have to swipe within the app to , and if they don’t book it within the 15 minutes, with a clock clicking down toward zero, then the deal is gone,” explains Dennis Schaal in a July post for Skift.com. After that they can book another hotel at its regular price or wait for the next day’s 15-minute deal. HotelTonight offers properties in the Americas, Europe and Australia.

Conde Nast Traveler quotes Shank as saying; “This is redoing .” Today’s Daily Drop is a bit more transparent than typical opaque deals, which reveal the hotel after guests have completed their purchase. He explains, “This is the same discount than you’d find in normal opaque deals, but you know what you’re getting into.” Approximately 1,000 properties participate in Today’s Daily Drop.

And So Does Acting Slowly

The next new offering is Expedia’s Add-On Advantage, which was unveiled last year. “Packages are still a great way to save, but we recognize it isn’t always the easiest or most convenient way for travelers to book. A recent study shows more than ,” said Aaron Price, Expedia senior vice president of Global Marketing.

Expedia customers booking a flight, car or package are now able to add a discounted hotel room up until the day of their trip, and those accommodations (and the rates) can only be seen after they book the other components of their trip. Expedia reports that customers get .

Noting that travelers want to research neighborhoods, amenities and reviews, Price said, “Our rationale for the Add-On Advantage is really an adjustment to our current offering with the aim to .”

Add-On Advantage lets travelers spread out the cost of their trips, which makes them easier to budget and may also reduce credit card interest. And, by booking separately, Expedia customers can book flights and hotels when they’re the cheapest—earlier for flights and later for hotels. According to Expedia, Add-On Advantage .

Is this Good or Bad for Hotels?

“Hotels are obsessed with getting this kind of traveler,” Shank said, noting that most of 29 million downloads were to millennials’ phones. “These types of customers are experience-driven, not price-driven. They really like the amenities—the bar, the rooftop, the pool—and they are great customers. And of course, they are very social media-adept. They provide free marketing in a sense.”

HotelTonight found “hotels are keen to partner with the app on the new service–offering uncharacteristically discounted prices–in hopes of accessing younger audiences.”

Expedia Group CEO Mark Okerstrom believes the value for hotels in the Add-On Advantage program is that it’s “,” noting that hotels have “the ability to, in a very specifically fenced way, to target customers, not out in the open, but to target customers that we know are going to a certain place with a special deal.”

Not everyone is seeing the benefit for hotels. In a piece titled, Taking Advantage: Expedia’s New Package Approach Could Upend Distribution, Patrick Bosworth CEO & co-founder of Duetto, says, “These ‘packaged’ by going from an opaque component of a bundle to a searchable price that consumers can compare with other properties’ rates.” While he acknowledges that the discounted rates are “gated,” he’s concerned that “the hotel can’t control who can find those rates.”

Opaque rates have been around for a while and these two programs are the latest iterations. Time will tell if hotels gain more loyal millennials customers and if that benefit outweighs the impact of the deeper discounts, whether they remain fenced in or become more public.

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In Eye for Travel’s report issued earlier this year, their analysts write, “It’s early days for voice technology, but it is an area that the travel industry will need to start planning for.” They convey an opinion shared by many others that consumers’ growing use of AI and personal assistants is “limited and largely functional currently,” but its expected impact on travel has led to considerable investment in technology and booking application development by major players like Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft.

Voice’s role in travel is evolving quickly, so there are varying opinions on consumer’s acceptance of it and limited data on adoption rates. But, the data that is available shows movement and great opportunity.

National Public Radio (NPR) and Edison Research have been studying voice technology as part of their “,” which includes three surveys done over the past year and a half. The latest survey, done this spring, found that 18% of Americans aged 18 and older (approximately 43 million people) own a “smart speaker.” The fall 2017 result was 16%, which was a 128% increase over January 2017. Gartner Inc., a technology research and advisory company, predicts that 75% of US households will have a voice-activated device by the end of 2020.

The NPR-Edison research found more women (54%) than men (46%) own a device and ownership is dispersed across ages. The highest percentage is for those 45-54 (24%), followed by the 55+ group (22%), 35-44 year olds (21%), 25-34 year olds (18%) and, finally, the 18-24 group (15%). The survey also found that “81% of smart speaker owners are open to skills and features created by brands on smart speakers.”

Expectations versus reality

At the in June Mark Nasr, Air Canada’s vice president of loyalty and e-commerce, was one of many industry leaders who shared their thoughts on tech, including voice. Talking about the company’s skill for Alexa, Nasr said, “We actually see conversational commerce and voice as a user interface as probably what’s going to be the biggest channel maybe to five years out for us.”

Hotel-online.com acknowledges that while search via voice assistants is growing, “there are .” Through its partnership with Amazon, Kayak.com offers hotel bookings, but customers can’t comparison shop. They get one “highly ranked result.”

In July, Michael Coletta wrote for Phocuswright, “Voice recognition has made huge strides in accuracy; natural language recognition rates have now surpassed those of humans. But and specific answers that are largely inaccessible through voice-only interfaces.”

On the other hand, WayBlazer’s CEO, Noreen Henry, observes that voice is an for booking travel. In talking about the company’s AI-powered e-commerce travel platform, she notes, “Guests don’t have to interact with filters or dates—it’s more like talking to a travel agent.”

Travelers are interested, but not taking action quite yet

Research done by Phocuswright found that “more than half of US travelers are comfortable requesting general information using a voice-powered digital assistant. But when it comes to actual usage, for tasks like searching for or booking travel products.”

When it comes to booking, specifically, OAG’s Travel Tech Innovation Tech Report: The Future of Travel Booking and Payments reports:Ěý 25% of the 2,146 US leisure and business travelers surveyed in December 2017 and January 2018 “would be comfortable booking travel through mobile assistants like Siri or Okay Google,” and 18% felt the same way about voice-automated systems like Amazon Echo or Google Home. The report also found that “ through these devices.”

According to Mike Benjamin, chief technology officer of OAG, “While we , the threat of new startups and major tech players radically simplifying or transforming the experience should not be discounted.” He added, “Convenience, speed and customer experience rule the travel ecosystem – and the booking and payment process is no exception.”

The importance of the customer experience is echoed by Elena Mogo, associate analyst for digital travel and tourism at GlobalData’s, when discussing the company’s recent Technology Trends in Travel & Tourism report, she stated, “Travel still revolves around meaningful human interactions.Ěý However, to be successful, companies need to . Improving the customer experience must always be in the back of travel and tourism companies’ minds when investing in technology.”

As Expedia’s Chief Technology Officer Tony Donohoe said a the Skift Tech Forum, “Voice is definitely the future.” When is comes to gaining a significant portion of the booking pie, the question is how close is that future?

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Considering how bad Americans are at taking vacation, the growing popularity of road trips could be good news on that front. The latest data from Project Time Off finds that there has been a very slight increase in vacation time. “The trend line is moving in a positive direction, back up to 17.2 days used in 2017, after losing almost a week of vacation time.”

In a summary of MMGY Global’s 2017-18 Portrait of American Travelers, Anna Blount writes, “39 percent of U.S. leisure travel in the last 12 months included a road trip – up 17 points from the year prior.” This report, based on nearly 3,000 interviews, also found that 85% of US vacations are domestic.Ěý This represents almost 14 million more vacations within the US than outside.

AAA supports these findings, noting “55% of Americans are more likely to take a road trip than the year before, and 69% of respondents indicated they were planning to take a road trip in the next 12 months.”

What’s the appeal of road trips?

AAA spokesperson Julie Hall says, “Road trips remain the , as they offer the most flexibility and are a great way to build family bonds and create lasting memories.”Ěý Surprisingly, gas prices don’t seem to have an impact on the decision to plan a road trip. Hall explains, “Gas prices are climbing higher, but .”

Fuel costs may impact travel budgets, but road trips are still a lower priced option and offer other practical benefits too. New York Times reporter Stephanie Rosenbloom cites (from the MMGY Global report): the ability to stop along the way and the ability to pack however much travelers want. Other benefits include avoiding “the airport pain factor” and the ease of traveling with pets and large families.

The road trip isn’t just practical. The notion of cross-country trips can be romantic, nostalgic and liberating. Skift.com’s in-depth three-part series on also references the MMGY Global report, noting “75% of road trippers cited experiencing different cultures as a motivation to travel” (versus 69% for those not taking road trips).Ěý And in The State of American Vacation 2018, Project Time Off reports “86% of Americans say they have not seen enough of their own country.”

Who’s packing up & where are they headed?

Boomers may be the largest group of those taking road trips (with Generation X in second place), but the number of Millennials exploring the US by car is growing. A combination of saving money and gaining experiences is encouraging this younger group to head out. The most recent edition of Portrait of American Travelers reports 42% of Boomers’ vacations are road trips, and for Millennials its 36%.

According to AAA’s Hall, “We’re finding that Americans want to new destinations.” Research done by the organization just before the 2017 summer vacation season found that ” with 51% planning to visit a national park and 40% opting for a theme park. The increase in road trippers is likely one of the reasons that —20% from 2013 to 2017.

Steve Cohen, the senior vice president for Travel Insights at MMGY Global told the New York Times that US travelers on road trips “don’t want to spend the night any closer than eight hours from home.” Ideally, the trip will have “ .”

How is travel & tourism tapping into this market?

Taking more vacation time is good for the traveler, their state of mind, their productivity and family harmony, but it also has a positive financial impact on the US economy. Project Time Off estimates that by increasing the average number of vacation days to 17.2 from 16.8 added $30.7 billion to the economy and created “an estimated 217,200 direct and indirect jobs and generated $8.9 billion in additional income for Americans.”

That spending also benefits travel suppliers. US travelers estimate “40% of their domestic travel this year will be to a new destination,” giving travel companies more opportunities to attract new customers from countless markets.

Over the past couple of years, several marketing campaigns have been aimed specifically at road trippers. Last year, Wyndham’s Super 8 brand ran ads “.” ĚýMotel 6 brand did the same—focusing on “the joys of road trips, as well as the brand’s updated guest rooms.”

Travelodge, another Wyndham brand, partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association to near the parks. Skift.com reports, “nearly 50 percent of Travelodge’s properties are located adjacent to a national park and about 70 percent of Travelodge customers arrive by car.”

Tourism departments are also working to attract US travelers taking to the roads. New Mexico’s Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Latham explains, “Over the past year we’ve seen a resurgence in popularity of road trips across the country, and our research shows that a lot of those road trips are happening here.” She adds, “Visitors to New Mexico are more likely to tour multiple areas than stay in one place, so we’ve made it easy for them to plan a trip by mapping out experiences linked by a common interest.”

In the recently released “” Richard Ratay writes about his childhood family road trips in the 1970s. When reviewing the book, Newsday contributor Matthew Price writes: “Ratay misses the family road trips of yesteryear and laments the decline of car-trip protocols, kids sprawled out in back, annoying one another.” Understandably, road trips of today aren’t quite what they used to be (kids are buckled in and navigation apps help you find your way), but that doesn’t mean the increasing number of road tripping Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials aren’t creating a version that will be remembered just as fondly.

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A Major Sporting or Cultural Event

Not so surprising: Everyone expected the World Cup to bring an influx of visitors to host country Russia, and they were right. According to Russian officials, , including 2.9 million international travelers. alone arrived for the semi-final against Croatia, making last minute travel plans to a country once thought hard to get to. While impressive, none of this is too surprising, nor is the fact that Russia’s tourism profile has skyrocketed thanks to an incident-free event and the eyes of the world on its cities.

More surprising: First, while everyone was focused on the travelers going to Russia, what was not considered was that many Russians would be staying at home. The Seychelle Islands saw an 18% drop in Russian visitors and overall received much less tourism than expected this summer.

Another factor that would have been hard to predict was how both fan and team behavior could impact travelers’ views of a particular country. The enthusiastic fans of the Iceland team, with their now famous “Viking thunderclap”, made a positive impression on the world. Whether it will have an impact on tourism remains to be seen, though any opportunity to show off in front of billions of television viewers across the world certainly helps.

A Major Weather Event

Not so surprising: Travel companies are used to dealing with impacts of dangerous and destructive weather events, such as hurricanes, working with customers to change travel plans away from impacted areas, and arranging to get travelers out of harm’s way.

More surprising: What is sometimes not considered is the impact more favorable weather patterns have on travel. This year’s heatwave in the UK, though extreme and dangerous in its own right, has had a favorable travel impact on British tourism, and a less favorable impact on destinations frequented by British tourists normally seeking a warmer respite.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) reported that two-thirds of British travelers were planning a staycation this year, and also noted a trend to booking later. Those who held off on travel plans until the last minute likely stayed home where the temperatures were the hottest in Europe in late July. The number of holidaymakers, both domestic and from abroad, was so high that it stressed many coastal locations.

The coastal county of Cornwall, always a popular beach destination, received more visitors than it could adequately cope with. The tourism board even stopped actively promoting its beaches, as traffic jams and overcrowding caused massive safety problems where emergency vehicles could not enter certain locales.

A Hit TV Show or Movie

Not so surprising: A popular television show or hit movie has the potential to raise the profile of a featured destination just because exposure to millions of viewers is bound to pique interest. An example: The movie Braveheart exposed viewers to the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and put the region on the map for American tourists.

More surprising: In recent years, television and films have become more influential than ever in determining travel destinations. Tourism boards are tuned in to this trend and heavily market filming locations in their areas. The Croatia tourism website prominently caters to fans of the television series Game of Thrones who are drawn to the country to see the fictional locations of King’s Landing or Essos – and then discover the attractions of real-life Croatia. Scotland has also had another boost more recently than Braveheart, as are eager to see the beautiful locations where the show was filmed.

This year has shown that a number of things can influence travel plans – some are expected and can be planned for, while others seem to come out of nowhere. But by keeping an eye on the latest cultural developments, a savvy travel company can use flexibility and an insight into human behavior to change course and offer travelers what they’re looking for.

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So who’s winning? OTAs continue to gather market share each year, A Phocuswright report predicts that to increase to 41% by 2020. However, time will tell if hotels’ efforts to drive direct booking pay off.

In the meantime, who’s really winning? Actually, the consumer. As often happens when fierce competition is afoot, the consumer benefits. From a buyer’s perspective, there are advantages to booking both through an OTA and directly with the hotel.

OTAs Are A One-Stop Shop And A Researcher’s Best Tool

An OTA is a travel consumer’s best friend when they’re scoping out their vacation plans. They can see all the options available from flights, to hotels, to packages and more. OTAs and their rich search engines are also an incredibly useful research tool that helps the consumer find the best hotel based on price, location, and quality.

OTAs are often a consumer’s first introduction to a hotel that may become one of their favorites. From a hotel’s point of view, though they pay a commission to OTAs, they also get a good stream of first-time customers, plus visibility to millions of eyes cost-free (until a room is booked). They also get increased web traffic straight from OTAs; according to a study by Google, .

Hotel Sites Can Give Loyal Customers The Royal Treatment

On the other hand, repeat customers who book directly through the hotel get a different set of benefits, particularly if they participate in the hotel’s loyalty program. Successful hotels are able to create loyal customers by providing great experiences. Great experiences are created by knowing who their customers are. When a room is booked directly through the hotel, the hotel can gather rich customer data, including room preferences, that can help them cater to their loyal customers.

When hotels receive direct bookings, they’re also able to communicate with the customer before, during, and after the stay, so they can provide useful information for the traveler. They can also keep in touch about special deals and loyalty perks that may not be widely available or known. Having a direct line of communication with the hotel can also make changing travel plans easier for the consumer than if they’d booked through an OTA.

The bottom line is that both OTAs and direct bookings provide value to consumers in different ways, depending on where the consumer is in the buying process, how familiar they are with a property, and if they participate in loyalty programs. While hotels may love to hate OTAs, they provide a valuable customer stream to them.

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Specific to the awareness and use of travel bots and chat bots, the survey found “4% of respondents anticipate booking a trip through a travel bot or chatbot,” and “only 22 percent say they’re even aware” of travel bots. Seventeen percent of that group expects to use bots to book trips this year. Not surprisingly, use and awareness differ by age. “Fifty percent of millennials who are aware of travel bots, use them regularly or occasionally to book travel. Only 16 percent of Boomers are aware of the existence of travel bots. “

While the ĚÇĐÄVlogand Mastercard report found limited awareness and use of chat bots in the US now, the industry is expecting that to grow.

Some travel companies are using Facebook’s Messenger app to connect their chat bots with travelers. Customers can request boarding passes, check flight status, and, in some cases, book flights. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was the first to partner with Messenger in early-2016, followed by Icelandair and, this April, Malaysia Airlines became the first Asian airline to offer the service.

In an Adobe.com article, Jon Glick, partner at PwC, said, “Automated chat services have been around for a while, but now the artificial intelligence has caught up with it and companies have had a decade to build their data and update their technology so that they can expose this content in a way that the automated chat bots can respond to it.”

That same post suggests that smaller travel companies brands looking to dive into voice “start — or continue — to invest in chat bots. When broken down to their core, chat bots, which have been around much longer than voice assistants like Siri or Alexa, use many of the same technologies and are much easier to implement.”

The ĚÇĐÄVlogand Mastercard trends report foresees that, “instead of bots… the next big thing in travel tech will be booking by voice.” And many others agree.

In 2016 Skift.com was just one of the groups predicting that travelers would soon go “,” reporting that “despite all the rapid shifts already caused by mobile, even bigger changes are on the horizon. That’s because three emerging interfaces, including voice search, artificial intelligence and conversational messaging, are transforming how travelers will interact with travel brands on mobile in the future.

Most recently, Oliver Heckmann Google’s vice president of engineering for travel and shopping said in a post , “Over 1 in 3 travelers across countries are interested in using digital assistants to research or book travel,Ěýand they’re already searching for everything from hotels to flights, and things to do in-destination.”

The evolution of voice technology is a natural one. As Malek Murison wrote for Travelshift.com earlier this year, “our voice–no matter how fast we can type – is still our most effective means of communication.”

Different sectors of travel are adopting voice features in different ways. For some, it’s primarily customer service and support and others have branched out into booking as well.

• Kayak continues to make upgrades to its voice capability with both Alexa and Google. Since 2016, Kayak has offered the ability to “track and search for flights, look for hotels and discover new destinations on your budget” via Alexa. Last year, they added the ability to book hotels and this year have introduced a . A few months after launching Kayak through Google Home in January 2017, Kayak gave travelers access and greater flexibility via the Google Assistant app for Android and iOS phones.
• Trainline is one of the company’s highlighted in a three-part series for Phocuswright’s Phocuswire.com that takes an . Mitra Sorrells writes about the retailer that and launched a Google Assistant app late last year. She quotes Dave Slocombe, product director: Ěý“It takes about 26 seconds to do a journey search from London to Manchester for this weekend on our app – to launch the app and tap between screens – and it takes about 10 seconds to do it by voice. Any technology that is that much faster than the preceding technology will win.”
• Marriott International brands have been using voice technology in the guest services area for a while. In 2016, according to Brian McGuinness, global brand leader, Aloft Hotels was the “, using Siri to control room temperature, lighting and more during their stay.”
• InterContinental Hotels Group trains its Alexa “virtual concierge by listening to calls that came into the customer call center.”

As travel companies test new ways to incorporate chat bots and voice into their operations and customers’ experiences, there will be a wide range of obstacles, opportunities, considerations and choices they’ll have to contend with.

In , Matthias Kelley, Kayak’s chief scientist, shares his thought on the current state. “I think it is what mobile was 10 years ago. Mobile showed up and it was very small, and today the common industry number is 50/50 split [between desktop and mobile]. I guess it would be a long way before it’s becoming one-third/one-third/one-third with the new piece of the pie being voice, but voice right now has a tremendous amount of motion behind it with these devices being integrated into every object you can imagine.”

And Skift’s , sponsored by Adobe and Epsilon, predicts “Whatever the interaction model that travel brands choose in the future, be it voice or intelligent chatbots one thing is clear, typing text into tiny boxes in a mobile web browser is no longer going to cut it in tomorrow’s mobile-first future.”

Download the full 2018 Travel Trends Report.

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In it’s , Booking.com reports, “The trend for wellness getaways isn’t slowing down for 2018, with almost double the amount of people planning to take health and wellbeing trips in 2018 compared to 2017 (from 1 in 10 in 2017 to nearly 1 in 5 in 2018).”

The Global Wellness Institute estimates health and wellness travel will increase 43% (to $808 billion) from 2015 to 2020, and notes that “s—defined as ‘travel associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one’s personal wellbeing’—in 2015, up from about 104 million in 2013.”

Early this year, a New York Times article on wellness travel noted that Virtuoso Wellness, “a portfolio of 42 hotels and cruise lines” saw year compared with sales for the company’s other suppliers, which increased nine percent.”

Tourism departments recognize the interest. Writing for , Anne Dimon notes the City of San Miguel in Guanajuato, Mexico “launched San Miguel Wellness Week focusing on the region’s thermal waters plus celebrating both Global Wellness Day and International Yoga Day.” Others undertaking similar efforts include Costa Rica Tourism Board, Aruba Tourism Authority and Saint Lucia Tourist Board.

De-stressing air travel

Flying isn’t something travelers usually connect to health and wellness, and airlines and airports are working hard to change that.

Meditation and yoga have made their way into the skies. , a meditation app, is available on United Airlines, JetBlue and Swiss Air flights (not all flights or classes), and British Airways in-flight entertainment includes “The Well Being Show.” Passengers on Cathay Pacific can practice in their seats with the “Travel Well With Yoga” video series, available in multiple languages.

And there are yoga options on the ground for harried air travelers. One airport choice is Yoga on the Fly, offering private rooms and exercises available through an iPad. VANE Airport magazine focuses on “wellness lifestyle at airports” and recently reported the Denver International Airport “turned a former storage room into something very different. It was transformed into a yoga room—with goats!”

XpresSpa, Be Relax Spa and Spa Here are three companies adding more spas to airports around the world. at Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport is “based on a privacy cocoon mini-spa.” Delta Airlines’ Asanda Spa Lounges give guests in three US airports an opportunity to participate in guided meditation through Deepak Chopra’s “Dream Weaver”.

Another wellness trend in the air and on the ground is helping travelers get much-needed sleep. In an April piece on , Shivani Vora writes that American Airlines found “travelers wanted to sleep more soundly in the skies and to that end, the airline recently tapped the mattress and bedding brand Casper to design pillows, blankets and other products.”

Cristina Alcivar writes about the “rise of napping suites,” citing a “sleep capsule warren” opened by izZzleep in Mexico City Airport last year, and the acquisition by NapCity Americas of the US rights to Napcabs, a German-based sleep pod company that operates at Munich airport.

What about healthy food, a challenge when traveling? DietDetective.com and Dr. Charles Platkin of Hunter College and New York School of Public Health produce an . Among 12 airlines, Delta got high marks for reducing calories and including menu keys for vegan, gluten-free and non-GMO foods. Air Canada was recognized for “keeping nutrients high and calorie counts low for meals.”

Hotels & resorts take wellness out of the gym

Today’s hotel and resort wellness offerings are more than a fitness center with a few pieces of equipment.

Along with renting workout gear, guests can RunWESTINÂŽ, three- and five-mile routes that guests run on their own or, at select locations, join a run led by a Run Concierge. Westin also offers foods to enhance sleep, essential oils to calm guests and the advice of Westin Well-being Experts.

DELOS has created Stay Well, which includes Stay Well rooms and a mobile app with a tool to combat jet lag. Rooms are available in at several Las Vegas properties and six US Marriott properties. Features include dawn simulation lighting, shower infusers to reduce chlorine, aromatherapy and air purification systems.

Six Senses Bhutan, a “” opening in August will present experiences at five lodges based on the pillars of Bhutan’s “Gross National Happiness Index.”ĚýIn a Skift.com article, said, “it’s imperative for his company to continue innovating in the luxury wellness space, because the entire travel industry is coming around to what has always been Six Senses’ fundamental mission promoting wellness as a lifestyle.”

Healthy on the high seas

Cruise lines are addressing wellness through healthier menus, expanded spa options and even amenities like .

A CNN post, “,” profiles numerous options for healthy cruising including Regent’s “Seven Seas Wellness” tours which “pair wellness-themed shore excursions, like a visit to hydrothermal pools in Sorrento, Italy… with one of five complimentary 50-minute spa services back on board.”ĚýOceania cruise line offers “private yoga sessions overlooking the bay in Monte Carlo, or laughter-immersion workshops at a farmhouse set in the heart of Costa Brava, Spain.’

‘ has a host of wellness-themed cruises and programs. Last year, MSC hosted a Caribbean cruise, “Rejuvenation Vacation at Sea,” , and this year launched “Wellness Experience by Technogym,” which combines fitness classes, special menus, excursions and stateroom amenities.

Diverse tours & activities encourage wellbeingĚý

Travelers have much to choose from when looking for tours and activities that will support health, wellness and mindfulness.

According to Booking.com, 56% of travelers say they want in 2018. They also found that in 2018 travelers are interested in ”visiting a spa or receiving beauty treatments (33%), cycling (24%), water sport activities (22%), taking a full body detox holiday (17%), going on a yoga retreat (16%), running (16%) and undertaking meditation/mindfulness (15%).”

The New York Times reports that Intrepid Travel expects to from 20 last year to 50 this year. The company’s travel director claims “the number of travelers who booked them increased significantly in 2017 — in the United States alone, the jump was 88 percent from 2016.”

“Hundreds (and hundreds) of journey-based wellness trips…happen every year,” states the , ranging from “Shakti Kumaon’s jaw-dropping, mind-opening walking tours through the Himalayas with everything from stays in ancient village houses to organic meals and yoga set in pine forests to Puakai Healing’s spiritual journeys through Peru’s Sacred Valley with pilgrimages to ancient Incan sites, amazing yoga and fire ceremonies.”

Whether it’s called mindfulness travel or wellness travel, all sectors of travel are incorporating healthier, relaxing and rejuvenating options into their offerings. Increasing interest and sustained growth across the globe is making wellness travel more than a fad and more of a commonplace.

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