Millennials Traveling to Southeast Asia for ‘Authentic’ Experiences
The millennial generation as opposed to the baby boomers, seek more authentic experiences during their travels. The earlier generation was engaged in more physically demanding jobs and thus holidays were seen as means to relax, while today’s younger travelers work in comparatively more sedentary professions and for them holidaying is more of a means to physically exert themselves. A tourism consulting report by Eventbrite says that more than three-fourths of millennials prefer spending money on experiences than shopping for products. While baby boomers will still prefer the comfort of people in overcrowded tourist locations, millennials would rather prefer going on bicycle trips across the rural landscape. These trends are particularly strong in the Southeast Asia region.
Source: http://sea-globe.com/millennials-authentic-travel-experiences/
Azerbaijan tourism revenue to hit 1,834bn dollar in 2016
Source: http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/27924-azerbaijan-tourism-revenue-to-hit-1834bn-in-2016/
Mountain travel symposium expands with European event
The Mountain Travel Symposium which is now in its forty second year in its home territory of the USA, has now added a European leg to it. The foundation for this was laid down in 2014 when the symposium was taken over by tourism consulting firm Northstar Travel Group. The idea behind adding the European leg is obviously to facilitate networking to eventually expand business in the continent where winter tourism was first born. In the first year, the event will be held in the Swiss town of Crans-Montana. Senior leaders will here discuss critical issues and challenges pertaining to the mountain travel sector.
Source: http://www.travelweekly.com/North-America-Travel/Mountain-Travel-Symposium-expands-with-European-event
Kenya tops World in Tourist bookings, says Travel Firm
Luxury tourism consulting network Virtuoso has confirmed that Kenya has seen the greatest spurt in travel bookings. The East African country has grown by fifty nine percent. Only Iceland comes close in this category while the other top growth markets are China, Japan, Ecuador, South Africa, Croatia, Tanzania and Jamaica. The Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF) has also linked up with British Airways to incentivize greater travel to the country. Kenya is also marketing heavily in the USA and Canada now. Virtuoso has further added that Kenya along with Tanzania and South Africa have also experienced favourable investor confidence lately.
Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kenya-top-tourist-bookings/1056-3344210-d9wk3x/
5 New Travel Startups helping Travelers with their Health and Wellness Goals
Some startups have been identified within the travel and tourism industry which are helping travelers to keep up with their health and fitness targets. The first of these is Medi-Route which connects patients with doctors and helps set up accommodation and travel arrangements with accredited hospitals. Then there is TraveDoc allows scheduling for doctors or dentists living abroad. It also connects the user to specialists speaking their language. The third important one is Medigo. This provides broad medical tourism consulting services by building a network of more than three hundred professionals across fifteen countries and also helps with bookings. The next one is Get-Treated helps medical travelers in arranging their travel itineraries while also providing advise on travel procedures. And finally there is Globo MD. This one is a marketplace comparing price ranges of various medical procedures across the globe. It also helps with concierge services when overseas.
Source: https://skift.com/2016/08/15/5-new-travel-startups-helping-travelers-with-their-health-and-wellness-goals/#1
Visa hopes tourism will increase 35 percent globally by 2025
Source: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2016/08/16/visa-hopes-tourism-will-increase-35-globally-2025/
Ministry touts rural travel destinations
In order to boost tourism in the country, the authorities in Taiwan have decided to promote the rural areas next to six of the thirteen designated national scenic areas. In Nanjhuang town for example, visitors can watch traditional Hakka style slow cooking. Then there is Jhungpu township where the traditional model was growing of betel nuts but now the economy has incorporated eco-tourism within those properties. The ministry in Taiwan feels that instead of purely focusing on increasing the number of inbound tourists, the aim must be to enhance the overall travel experience of the visitors. In order to create more number of travel jobs, the authorities seek to diversify the visitor profile to include greater number of backpackers as well.
Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/08/16/2003653235