COMCEC Tourism Outlook 2017
8
all tourism stakeholders. Five-point crisis communications plan should cover clear information,
consistency, openness and accessibility and sympathy for victims. Governments and authorities
should also ensure clear and effective communications (ITB, 2015).
Among supply side trends, tourism is strongly influenced by the progress of the technological
revolution. The Internet has already changed the way tourists search, book and experience their
travel. The whole industry has to adopt new technology trends and reshape the way they
provide services. 75% of international travelers use online information sources to plan their
trip. As displayed on figure 3.2 around 30% of these ‘online’ international travelers actively use
social media when researching about their trip (ITB, 2015) besides the official web sites of
destinations and service providers.
Figure 3.2 Internet Information Sources
Source: ITB World Travel Trends Report 2015-2016
International travelers focus on the most relevant social media for travel information rather
than the biggest social media platforms. Review sites, travel blogs and travel forums are used
much more intensively than general social networks.
Loyalty within tourism sector is expected to decline in future. There will be less complicated
sign-up forms. Physical loyalty cards and loyalty programs now have to be integrated into the
tourist experience. These programs are expected to customize tourist services rather than
offering only discounts and upgrades.
Health and healthy lifestyle will become increasingly important in tourists’ decision making and
tourism sector will offer products and services according to traveler’s health and healthy
lifestyle needs.
The sharing economy has shown incremental growth in recent years and is forecast to reach
USD 335 billion by 2025, according to projections by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tourism is one
of the sectors that much of this growth occurred, as the fast paced growth of peer-to-peer and
shared usage platforms is changing the tourism marketplace and giving people new options for
where to stay, what to do and how to get around. Sharing economy platforms have adopted
35%
35%
30%
25%
20%
16%
10%
7%
4%
2%
33%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Website of Country /Destination
Website of Accommodation/Hotel
Social Media
Website of Fligtht/Train etc.
Reservation/Booking Websites
Website of Tour Operators
Website for Price Comparison
Official Websites of Embassies
Articles in Internet Magazines
Sites with Official Tests of Institutes
Others