Travel's tipping point
Travelport’s new consumer research reveals that travel retailing is changing dramatically. Using learnings from sectors like banking, entertainment, and consumer goods — we’ve crafted five predictions for 2025. Here’s a preview of the full report.
1.
People are tired of paying penalties and charges for things that should be freebies. They say the travel industry is ‘consumer washing’ via misleading prices that appear great on the surface. People need radical transparency — and agencies can help.
believe airlines, hotels, and travel companies partake in consumer washing via misleading prices
ONLY CREDIT CARD COMPANY OFFERS ARE CONSIDERED MORE MISLEADING (45%)
2.
Venmo, Monzo, and Revolut have completely changed banking — making things faster, easier, and simpler. But travel seems to be going in the opposite direction, becoming harder and more confusing to buy. So, travel could be heading for its fintech moment in 2025.
of consumers feel that fintech apps have reduced the complexity of managing finances
think travel is more complex now than it was ten years ago
3.
Consumers everywhere are facing choice overload. In travel, this is coming in the form of more NDC content. To tackle this, in 2025 we may see more travel brands follow in the footsteps of Apple and Amazon Prime, forming distribution alliances with OTAs or shifting back to a multi-channel distribution strategy.
would prefer to subscribe to one service that bundles everything
4.
Almost every industry has embraced subscription services, because they’re handy, and save time and money. In 2025, this is likely to take off in travel too, as our findings show a clear curiosity and appetite for a new way of buying trips. This is a big opportunity for a limited number of OTAs, and a new alternative to loyalty programs.
5.
Our findings show consumers have embraced AI in travel more than other sectors. This will more big changes and new opportunities this year, including big data analysis, capacity planning, and forecasting. But it also could spell the end of Google’s dominance in search, unlock more value from curation, and make NDC a whole lot easier to manage.
of frequent travelers trust travel to use AI responsibly
