The 2023 traveller

Tourism stakeholders have the opportunity to adapt and grow

As we continue to navigate through the post pandemic times, we are seeing travellers around the world becoming increasingly confident about getting back on the road. While tourism stakeholders start to breathe a collective sigh of relief, there’s no denying that the travel landscape is different to how it was pre-Covid.

In a spirit of cautious optimism, the tourism industry has presented opportunities by increasingly opening up regulations while also ensuring the highest standards of health and safety are implemented. In fact, destinations that display strict and robust health and safety measures to reassure travellers are seeing better business prospects, especially in terms of tourism. Never before has this been such a serious consideration in destination choice.

Destinations that offer unique and exclusive tourism experiences are likely to be more appealing for travellers. Curated experiences that offer some form of deeper enrichment are already a big trend, as an outcome of the world’s newfound sense of what is important. The pandemic gave people time to recalibrate priorities and for tourism, this means that we need to offer experiences that allow people to grow by way of learning or personal evolution. Brands should listen in for more cues about this dramatic shift in the traveller’s personality.

In the past, tourism stakeholders were primarily addressing an audience seeking a holiday. Today, with a higher volume of remote roles in the global workforce, we need to think about how we want to have a conversation with travellers who might be seeking an environment that allows them all the conveniences they need to work (like cowering options and excellent Wi-Fi), combined with compelling experiences for non-work hours.

Amidst being locked away for months together during the early phase of the pandemic, people also developed a taste for augmented reality and virtual reality. There is an opportunity for destinations to develop attractions that augment the experience they offer: a dusty old fort can transform its appeal by allowing people to see a day in its life back in its prime. A history museum could bring its artefacts to life.

Tourism that takes place within controlled environments, where safety protocols can be relied upon, is a good bet in the present context. In addition – and this is at the opposite end of the small and exclusive experience spectrum – we may see more grand experiences as a priority for travellers. Revenge fashion is a big buzzword these days, and I think grand tourism experiences might work in the same way. People want a piece of everything they have missed and if you translate that into the tourism context, it means people want to make up for all the missed travel experiences.

We are tapping into this sentiment and talking to this new traveller, with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM later this year. Qatar is uniquely positioned to appeal to both grand tourism pursuits, such as global sporting events, and enriching experiences, such as desert camping, dhow cruises, kayaking in the mangroves, or visiting state-of-the-art museums. We are also maintaining the conversation with this new traveller through augmented reality experiences, such as the metaverse game Qatar Airways has launched, or apps for museum visitors. At Doha Festival City, travellers can take a virtual tour to space and learn about various celestial bodies.

Flexibility and easy cancellation are big deciding factors for travellers now; some might even be willing to pay a premium for such conveniences. Another opportunity for the industry is the fact that travellers might be open to a longer trip duration to keep sufficient margins for testing and quarantine measures.

Digitalisation is no longer an option. The world has become habituated to digitalised everything, and contactless processes are pretty much a necessity, or a basic standard, in the present environment.

The call to adapt is an opportunity and one that I believe is also a necessity – for if we don’t all adapt to the new realities of travel and traveller’s expectations, we may be left behind. BTI