The Accelerated Pace of Reinventing Travel: Can the Industry Keep up, and If so, How?

Summary

Travel. Not an industry generally associated with speed since perhaps the introduction of transcontinental flight. It hasn't needed to be. "Leisure," the very word that describes the largest category of travel, connotes relaxation and a lack of urgency. For a long time, that was actually just fine for the industry as well as travelers. The challenge at hand now, however, is that the behind-the-scenes business of travel cannot afford to think or act leisurely. Ever-advancing new technologies, disparate and multi-generational global audiences, rising disruptive and competitive forces, and unpredictable economic variables continue to strain even well-situated players.

Through interviews conducted with industry players and futurists alike, this paper lays out the key challenges, examines the issues, reviews predictions for the future of travel, and assesses the impact this future will have. It concludes with suggested recommendations on how to keep up with the fast pace of change in order to deliberately transform and reinvent.