The Future of Travel 2021 - Ecotourism World

2020 was a tough year for those who like traveling abroad. Until now, even though it’s been difficult to travel abroad due to vacations, illness, or financial problems, but it wasn’t often difficult to go abroad due to external factors. The situation continues to be frustrating, with a situation beyond our individual control and no idea as to how long it will last.

This year, Covid-19 is hopefully beginning to calm and travellers are looking forward to travelling again! There are many people all over the world who are screaming their desires to travel again in their hearts.

There is a past article on Ecotourism World about what will happen after this pandemic of Covid-19. Last year, Booking.com conducted a questionnaire survey of 20,000 travelers in 28 countries and made nine predictions about the future of travel. Let’s take a look.

Nine predictions for the future of travel:

1. Increased desire for travel ie; ‘Wandermust”

2. Further increasing importance of perceived value, ie; “vital value”

3. Increased demand for familiar micro tourism rather than distant. Ie; “familiarist not tourists”

4. Pursuing the “ideal journey” by searching ie; “search escapists”

5. Safety

6. Impact

7. “Workation” demand is on the rise

8. Rediscover the charm of a simple pleasures and enjoy nature

9. The use of technology for a safe and easy travel experience

See: Booking.com news page

Overall, the forecast seems to be within the reasonable range of assumptions without big surprises.

While picking up the points on your priority list let’s take a look from the perspectives of ecotourism and sustainable tourism. Here are a few talking points:

Increased desire for travel

More than half of the 53% said they had a stronger desire to travel to different parts of the world, and 42% said they would like to travel more in the future. Would be nice to get back to what we have had, in the future.

It seems that there is a lot of frustration that people cannot travel. Rather, it seems that the human psychology of wanting to do more when it is said that it cannot be done is happening.

Certainly, when travel was an activity one could freely partake in, we were happy to be able to travel, but perhaps because it was such an easy thing to do, we failed to feel the gratitude and splendor of being able to travel. By not being able to travel, we are now able to realise how wonderful it is.

Pursuing the ideal journey by searching

The study cites that 95% of travelers spend their time looking for travel inspiration with 38% searching for destinations weekly.

If you like traveling, but you can’t go now, think about when you can go! It’s good to have a positive idea about future travel. When gathering, researching or planning for one’s travels, it doesn’t matter when the planning is done and It may also be a good way to cheer up and motivate yourself.

It is recommended that one carefully consider what kind of trip would be enjoyable, especially because we now have time at home. When the process of deciding the trip is completed, especially if it’s according to the consecutive holidays several times a year, it tends to be an escapist trip that one wants to be able to relax for the time being. Regardless of when the planning is done, it would be nice to make such a trip, and imagine a once in a lifetime trip that would be fun and memorable. Want to explore the unexplored jungle, interact with locals in an unfamiliar country, travel with people from all over the world, and more? Take the leap and experience the earth, even if only once in life.

Safety

The study says that 59% (67% of baby boomers) avoid some destinations and 70% expect to take social distancing measures at the travel destinations.

No matter how much Covid-19 calms down before traveling, it is unknown when it will truly calm to manageable levels. We will all be worried about it while traveling for the foreseeable future. Therefore, it might be recommendable to visit a minor destination with few people. The spots that are listed as the main destinations in guidebooks are quite popular, so it is easy for people to gather and one should expect to see large crowds in those areas. From the perspective of social distancing, it makes a lot of sense to stagger the time and place for a less crowded and safer option. If there are few people, it is also an advantage that one is able to travel comfortably without queuing or feeling stressed by the crowds. From the perspective of sustainability, one can return profits to various regions without overloading one place, so please do plan your trip conscientiously.

Impact

An increased awareness of sustainable travel is exhibited by the fact that 69% of respondents want the travel industry to offer more sustainable travel options, 51% to avoid peak seasons and 48% to avoid crowding destinations.

It seems that an increasing number of people want to travel with a sustainable consciousness that considers the impact on the environment and the region. More and more people are also taking “reconfigured trips” which shift the time and place from other people not only because of the social distance, but also from the perspective of sustainability.

More than half of the travellers surveyed had a perspective on how their trip will affect the local communities they are traveling to. It is nice to see that the number of people who want to do ecotourism and sustainable tourism that are environmentally friendly and can return profits to the community is increasing. The negative aspects of tourism such as conventional mass tourism and overtourism are widely reported, and the associated environmental issues are attracting more attention than ever. Making sustainable decisions such as staying in an eco-friendly hotel, participating in eco-tours or participating in the local community are important. It may be that more and more people are feeling that they would like to make such a trip, knowing that they can make a trip that returns profits to small communities which benefit from it.

Rediscover the charm of simple pleasures and enjoy nature

In this category, 69% of travellers answered that they would like to enjoy a simple experience such as outdoor activities or family activities at their travel destination. An additional 56% said they would prefer to enjoy nature in a rural area with few people.

It seems that many people have realized during this situation, that they can no longer have the simple experience that they had previously been able to. Also, the result of stress and self restraint from this last year has the result of people craving some time in nature. As the number of people who like nature and seek it increases, so does their awareness of the environment.

This survey is a survey of people from 28 countries. You may not agree with the findings. However, you can roughly understand what kind of consciousness people in the world have about traveling due to the pandemic.

There is hope that we will be able to travel abroad this year. But no one really knows …

Would you like to know more about eco-friendly travel? To receive inspiration direct to your email inbox, please click here and register for our Newsletter!