While 2015 was a banner year for U.S. leisure travel, in 2016 the purchase incidence dropped for some travel categories. With travelers taking fewer (and shorter) trips overall, most major travel products experienced a decline in purchases, though the lodging segment has remained strong. This Spotlight provides a detailed analysis of U.S. leisure travelers’ purchase patterns for all major travel segments: air, hotel, car rental, vacation packages, destination activities and cruises.Analysts: Mark Blutstein, Cathy WalshTopic: Consumer TrendsSegments: Air, Car Rental & Ground Transportation, Hotels & Lodging, Tours & PackagesRegion: U.S. & CanadaResearch Type: Report
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Designed as a way to differentiate travel brands and build traveler allegiance, loyalty programs have become the norm for airlines and major hotel chains. However, changes in technology and consumer behavior have raised questions about the future of travel loyalty programs. This report examines travel loyalty in Europe to assess participation levels and impacts for airline, hotel and OTA loyalty programs. Key topics include the relationship between loyalty program membership and brand loyalty, and a detailed profile of the behaviors and attitudes of loyalty participants, with an emphasis on high-value elite loyalty members.Analysts: Cathy Walsh, Marcello GasdiaTopic: Consumer TrendsSegments: Air, Hotels & Lodging, Online Travel AgenciesResearch Type: Report
In the early 1990’s, air shopping and booking was largely dominated by four GDSs, which handled communication and data transfer between suppliers, intermediaries and various other points of sale. Today, air shopping is increasingly influenced by a range of other entities and platforms, including metasearch, third-party search, large computer systems on commodity hardware, open source software, large online travel agencies, airline fee reductions and cloud services. This Analysis examines the components of the legacy airfare shopping process, and the new technologies and user expectations that could potentially be the catalysts for reshaping airfare shopping.Analyst: Bob OffuttTopic: Technology InnovationSegment: AirRegion: U.S. & CanadaResearch Type: Report
China is among the world’s fastest-growing economies, and its travel market is projected to grow 9-11% annually for the next several years. This continued growth is being driven by more citizens joining the traveling class, improvements in transportation infrastructure, and suppliers and intermediaries tailoring their products to the Chinese traveler. This report provides market sizing, trends and analysis on the Chinese leisure travel market, with projections through 2021.Analysts: Maggie Rauch, Coney Dongre, Deepak JainTopic: Market Overview & SizingRegion: Asia PacificResearch Type: Report
While the travel industry tends to be preoccupied with what’s happening in air and hotel, it’s the activities on the ground that inspire travelers to go places. Travel activities, the aggregate of in-destination spend on tours, activities, attractions and events, is the third-largest travel segment and accounts for 10% of global travel revenue. This report explores the state of travel activities to assess the market landscape, the challenges ahead and the opportunities for distribution in the broader travel marketplace.Analysts: Alice Jong, Bing Liu, Douglas QuinbyTopics: Destination & Activities Marketing, Market Overview & SizingSegments: Air, Hotels & Lodging, Online Travel Agencies, Tours & PackagesResearch Type: Report
With relatively low online travel penetration and a population of more than 120 million, Mexico is a market of great untapped promise. The country has the world's 13th largest travel market in 2013, just behind Italy and Spain. Mexican airports transported over 55 million passengers in 2013, and despite concerns about personal safety related to inter-gang violence, international arrivals increased between 1H13 and 1H14.Analysts: Luke Bujarski, Colie HoffmanTopics: Market Overview & Sizing, Consumer Trends, MobileSegments: Air, Car Rental & Ground Transportation, Hotels & Lodging, Online Travel Agencies, Tours & Packages, Traditional Agencies & TMCsResearch Type: Report
Economic and geopolitical factors weighed down the U.S. travel industry in 2016. While leisure demand was resilient, weakness in the corporate sector was a significant headwind, and overall the market was projected to eke out just 1% growth. Phocuswright’s U.S. Online Travel Overview Sixteenth Edition provides comprehensive market sizing of the U.S. travel industry with a focus on the purchase, distribution and marketing of travel booked by the leisure or unmanaged business traveler. The report analyzes trends in market share, technological innovation and consumer behavior that are influencing the marketplace, incorporating historical results and providing a five-year forecast. In addition, it includes detailed sizing and analysis of the U.S. online travel agency marketplace, as well as the air, hotel and lodging, and car rental segments.Analysts: Maggie Rauch, Alice Jong, Brandie Wright, Lorraine SileoTopic: Market Overview & SizingSegments: Air, Car Rental & Ground Transportation, Cruise, Hotels & Lodging, Online Travel Agencies, RailRegion: U.S. & CanadaResearch Type: Report
In the relatively mature U.S. online travel market, the days of easy online growth are a thing of the past. As organic gains slow, the battle for market share among suppliers and intermediaries is increasingly competitive. As both suppliers and OTAs strive to attract website visitors and boost online bookings, mobile has emerged as a wild card, with traveler behavior varying significantly by segment and channel. This report assesses online shopping and purchase dynamics by considering a range of factors, including channel, device, operating system and loyalty status.Analysts: Cathy Walsh, Deepak Jain, Douglas QuinbyTopics: Mobile, Social & SearchSegments: Air, Hotels & Lodging, Online Travel AgenciesResearch Type: Report
After years of soaring mobile adoption, smartphone ownership is nearly ubiquitous among travelers in key markets. For those who own multiple devices, mobile is capturing a growing share of time spent online, and the channel is now making a significant impact on travel shopping and booking. This report explores Phocuswright’s latest mobile data to answer key questions and highlight the most important mobile travel trends across regions.Analyst: Cathy WalshTopics: Mobile, Consumer TrendsSegments: Air, Car Rental & Ground Transportation, Hotels & Lodging, Online Travel AgenciesResearch Type: Report
Today’s consumers are bombarded with loyalty offers at every turn, and for many businesses, loyalty programs are critical to attracting new customers and giving existing ones a reason to stick around. The travel industry is certainly no exception. But just how influential are loyalty programs among the roughly 130 million U.S. leisure travelers who will generate more than US$300 billion in leisure gross bookings in 2015? This report examines the role of loyalty in consumer leisure travel behavior and spending, specifically for airlines, hotels and online travel agencies (OTAs). It addresses loyalty program participation across key demographics, and explores how loyalty impacts travel shopping and booking.Analysts: Marcello Gasdia, Karen BurkaTopics: Consumer Trends, Business TravelSegments: Air, Hotels & Lodging, Online Travel AgenciesRegion: U.S. & CanadaResearch Type: Report