Less is more

One of the perils of modern life is the abundance of choice. We live in an age of such excess that, as consumers, making decisions can feel pretty overwhelming.

There are 50 kinds of cereal in the supermarket. So many tasty options on Uber Eats. So many TV shows to choose from, and before you can even pick one you first have to choose between Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney+, and more.

And for every purchase you make, once you hit ‘buy’ the FOMO on all the choices you didn’t make is real.

And sure, these aren’t necessarily bad problems. Having options is, of course, a privilege. But decision fatigue is something that modern travel businesses need to keep in mind.

Why? Because in the past 10 years, the number of travel products available to buy has exploded — rising from 500 in 2010 to 10,000 in 2024, according to Travelport estimates. This abundance of choice is largely being driven by NDC.

Every one of us has spent way more time than we’d like researching and booking a vacation. Flicking between apps, entering the same search multiple times, and eventually reverting to multiple browser tabs on a laptop to be able to compare the best picks side by side.

Recent studies suggest that having as few as three options can be demotivating. So, it’s unrealistic to assume travelers will spend valuable hours comparing multiple versions of ‘premium economy’, infinite pairings of timings and price, and over 10,000 branded products from the world’s top 250 airlines.

And of course, shoppers do like having some choices. It’s just that there’s so much on offer today, they’re now exhausted and struggling to make decisions. We cover this in more detail in our recent Trends 2025 research.

That’s why, at Travelport, we believe travel agencies have a defining role to play in the modern retailing movement. Only agencies can offer customers both the choice that they crave AND the curation needed to cut through the volume of options that NDC is introducing.

We’re supporting that through our revolutionary AI-powered content curation layer, which refines results for billions of trip options and consolidates everything in one place.

Travel is a joy. Booking it should be too. And that requires the right platform to give bamboozled shoppers the clarity, curation, and comparison functionality they need to make a confident choice.

Find out more about curation capabilities on Travelport+