"Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) will continue to exert an increasing influence across the industry throughout 2024, while electric cabs are finally about to take off." Next year, doing what we love, whether it's traveling to see our favorite bands or using new tools to follow in the footsteps of digital influencers, will also drive bookings, while airlines will continue to reshape their offerings to respond to new preferences.
"There is much to be excited about, and Amadeus will work alongside our partners across the travel ecosystem to drive change for the traveler wherever we can."
Music tourism
After the social isolation of the pandemic, when bands and music artists were forced to remain inactive for months at a time, this year has seen a boom in concerts and festivals in response to the desire for connection. The trend is expected to accelerate by 2024.
British rock band Coldplay recently announced tour dates for next year, attracting fans from around the world. Amadeus research suggests that Coldplay's concert dates in Spain in 2023 and Romania and Greece for 2024 had a significant impact on search and booking volumes in both countries.
The announcement of Coldplay concerts in Barcelona, Spain, for May 2023 increased worldwide search volume to Barcelona by 154% in week 33 of 2022, compared to week 32. Likewise, bookings increased by 42% WoW on average between weeks 31 and 33 of 2022. Searches for flights to Athens, Greece, increased by 62% in the week the concert was announced and demand for short (weeklong or weekend) trips also saw a significant increase. The concert announcement also influenced searches for flights to Romania, which increased 91% during the week of the show compared to the previous week.
Taylor Swift will also continue to tour in 2024, and continues to impact global travel. According to a recent release from Amadeus, which analyzed flight searches around her performance dates in the Asia-Pacific region, there is a correlation between bookings and her concert dates. Amadeus research shows that, with the return of live concerts approaching pre-pandemic levels, Australia is set for a tourism boom. Concerts in Melbourne and Sydney in February 2024 have had a "very significant impact" on the volume of bookings to Australia, with an average weekly growth of 446%. As for Taylor Swift's upcoming concert in Spain in 2024, her announcement boosted searches to Madrid by 20.83% on average between weeks 23 and 28 of 2023.
Influencers
Social media has become a powerful tool during the inspiration phase of a trip, but a new shift is taking place. Instead of being solely the source of vacation inspiration for their followers, influencers are now facilitating direct bookings through their various channels. Influencers such as Ana Hernández Sárria, travel photographer Rafael Fernández Caballero, travel blogger The Blonde Abroad, yoga and movement coach Sjana Elise and full-time traveler and content creator Alyssa Ramos design and organize their own group trips.
The rise of so-called "agent influencers" is being facilitated by e-commerce platforms such as Thatch, Luxury Travel Hackers and TrovaTrip, which Inc ranked 236th out of 5,000 of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. in 2023. The technology allows content creators and influencers using Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, for example, to share a booking link directly on their profile page and process payments.
Electric skywalks
As cities experience greater congestion and air pollution becomes more prevalent, one possible alternative to fossil fuel-powered transportation will be the emergence of air runways that allow flying cabs, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and other types of electric aircraft to provide lower-emission air transportation options, both within urban areas, to satellite airports, cross-country and between islands.
It may sound very futuristic, but German aircraft manufacturer Volocopter plans to provide a fleet of electric VoloCity eVTOLs for the 2024 Paris Olympics, making it one of the first electric air cab networks. At the same time, Dale Vince, founder of green energy company Ecotricity, plans to debut an electric airline called Ecocity, powered by green hydrogen, in the United Kingdom.
Toff Mobility, Asia's first electric airline, plans to introduce electric aircraft in 2024 in South Korea, while Surcar Airlines has selected Zeroavia to supply hydrogen electric motors for its seaplanes in the Canary Islands.
In the United States, Joby Aviation intends to start commercial eVTOL flights from 2025 and has signed agreements to work with Delta Air Lines and Japanese airline ANA, which wants to operate e-taxi flights at the 2025 Expo in Osaka. In the UK, Virgin Atlantic has invested in an eVTOL fleet from Vertical Aerospace that could serve a network of gateways or Electric Skyways between cities from 2025.
Intelligent concierge
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) is adding tremendous value to the online travel planning experience for consumers by enabling search and advice to become hyper-personalized and more intuitive. Instead of selecting filters to refine a search on a metasearch engine or online travel agency (OTA), travelers can simply provide a brief description to a chatbot in the same way they would to a human advisor.
For example, a new Expedia ChatGPT add-on acts as a virtual travel assistant, listening to the customer's needs and providing instant hotel and itinerary recommendations, complete with booking links.
The next generation of GAI-powered customer services will be delivered with greater patience and empathy, reducing the workload of employees who handle the bulk of after-sales service and customer review management, giving them the leeway to provide the human touch on more specialized issues.
Accessible Business Luxe
With an increasing number of travelers wanting to fly in the front of the plane, there is an opportunity to offer more affordable and accessible " non-package " business class fares.
In 2019, Emirates was one of the first airlines to launch " special " business class tickets, with no lounge access, restricted seat selection and no upgrade option. Qatar Airways followed with a Business Class Lite fare, where passengers must pay a surcharge for lounge access and date/route changes, in addition to earning fewer Avios/Qmiles.
With the momentum of this trend, Japan's Zipair and Finnair began offering basic Business Class tickets in 2021, while Air France and KLM added Business Class Light fares in 2023.
At the other end of the scale, airlines are also installing more spacious "luxe" business class seats in row one that are only available to a select few. Examples include Virgin Atlantic's new Upper Class Retreat Suite; Condor's business class Prime seat; Air France's bulkhead seats on its reconfigured B777-300ERs; and JetBlue's Mint Studio on the A321LR.
Evidence that this trend will continue through 2024 is the news from Air New Zealand, which will add four or eight rows of a first Business Premier Luxe product, while Lufthansa will offer seven types of Business Class Allegris starting in 2024 at various price points with various benefits.
