Attracting visitors and tourists to a destination requires an understanding of their wants and needs. While the fixed assets of a destination may not change the way they are adapted and interpreted to engage visitors can evolve to meet developing visitor trends to sustain the visitor ‘offer’ and a viable local visitor economy.
‘The future of tourism is ensuring that visitors experience the transformation they seek while understanding the needs of locals and the environment’
‘Travellers are now seeking transformational tourism – driven by the mainstreaming of wellness, betterment and mindfulness, visitors want their trips to have meaning, challenge, connection and impact’.
Visitscotland:
Visit Scotland Insight Department: Trends 2020 Report is a valuable insight into the Megatrends which will influence and shape visitor behaviour over the next decade, https://www.visitscotland.org/research-insights/trends/trends-for-tomorrow.
“Its all about saying do tourism slowly” Visit Scotland’s chairman Lord Thurso discusses responsible tourism, climate action and sustainable revolution, in his interview with Holyrood Communications, read the full article below.
Visit England:
Trends for Tourism Product Development Report,
https://www.visitbritain.org/sites/default/files/vb-corporate/Documents-Library/documents/England-documents/visitengland_future_trends_report.pdf, explores the influence of Megatrends in shaping Evolving Travel Needs (Section 4).
Some visitor trends are familiar, some, perhaps new. All are worthy of consideration in shaping the local visitor ‘offer’ and present opportunities to develop a stronger staying visitor offer during the quieter ‘shoulder season’;
‘Seeking authentic experiences and fully immersing oneself in a local culture and atmosphere has become a driving force..’
‘Travellers want to …live, feel, eat and drink like a local – and are often consulting the same locals to understand how they can do this’
‘Even though travellers still want their holidays to be pleasure rich, so too do they seek pursuits which allow them to express a wide range of interests – learning additional skills, undertaking self-improvement activities or trying new experiences’
For an more entertaining view on visitor trends take a look at the presentation from Dr Ian Yeoman, tourism futurologist, https://youtu.be/IRv1-6Y9N2A.
