A look ahead to the travel trends of 2015

If several predictions for travel trends in the coming year are accurate, more travellers will be making use of wearable technology as they dine like a local while staying at their European ‘poshtel,’ surf the waves in Africa or don athletic gear and eschew golf for cycling in North America – all while exercising ‘airtiquette’ while flying to their destinations.

As 2014 closes, a number of travel trade companies have prepared their forecasts for the New Year. At the 2014 World Travel Market held in London earlier this fall, a number of global travel trends expected to grow in 2015 and beyond were discussed in the WTM’s annual Global Trends Report. Those findings include:

Cycling a Threat to Golf Tourism: The Rise of Middle Aged Men in Lycra (MAMILs): Cycling is rivalling golf for the leisure time of middle-aged men, which is expected to have an impact on the tourism industry, particularly in North America.

Poshtels Have a Luxury Facelift: Hostels in the U.K. are making a bid for the cost-conscious, style-seeking consumer, glamourizing their properties to compete with boutique hotels.

Eating Like Europeans: Peer-to-peer dining websites, offering not only meals but also more authentic European travel experiences, are expected to follow in Airbnb’s footsteps.

Wearable Electronics Go Mainstream: Wearable electronics will become an important tool for always-connected consumers to receive notifications and make bookings.

Designing a New Face of the Middle East: Middle East design weeks are changing the face of the region and attracting an increasing number of creative minds.

Surfing the African Wave: Surfing tourism is growing quickly in Africa and represents an interesting opportunity for sustainable tourism development.

“Braggies” - The New Selfies: Hotels are responding to guests’ online behaviour by encouraging them to post photos on social media in exchange for rewards and perks.

Travel Bookings on WeChat: The Chinese WeChat service is leading the expansion of messaging services from communication-only to mobile commerce and payment tools.

India’s Online Rail Booking Boom: Rail is the fastest growing sector in India for online travel bookings, with the new channel helping it to compete with low-cost airlines.

Here are the top five trends for Canadian travelers as determined by Cheapflights.ca in its Top Travel Trends and Hot Destinations for 2015:

Sports and Wellness: With the Pan Am Games and Parapan Am Games coming to Toronto and the FIFA Women’s World Cup across Canada this summer, athletes, media and fans will turn Canada into a three month sports arena. More and more travellers are also baking “wellness” into their getaways, going out of their way to nurture their mind and body on vacations to Asian countries such as India, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Korea.

Wearable Tech: Airlines are increasingly using wearable tech to engage directly with their passengers and provide efficient, targeted service throughout the journey – from check-in to baggage. Virgin Atlantic held trials with Google Glass and Sony Smartwatches. Japan Airlines has been ahead of the curve too, equipping staff with smartwatches. On-the-go tech also translates to the ability to arrive in a city and find “just-in-time” deals on everything from tours to hotels to meals.

Greater segmentation/personalization on flights: 2015 is all about the “c” word – choice, choice, choice. Be on the lookout for opportunities to personalize and upgrade your flight. Airlines will create special pods in their economy classes giving families and couples greater privacy – if not oodles more legroom.

Airtiquette: With power-up rules at some airports, omnipresent mobile tech, the potential for hacked boarding passes, seat defenders wielded by assertive passengers, the predominance of the in-flight selfie (taken with the near-ubiquitous selfie stick) and carry-on meals that often pack an odour punch all creating flash points for passenger conflict, “Airtiquette” is expected to be a major issue in 2015. 

Celebrating Food: Food has always been a part of both travel and celebrations but, increasingly, travel has become a way to celebrate food. 2015 is a landmark year in this regard as the idea of a formal restaurant turns 250. Cooking (and even extreme eating) shows spotlight the cuisine of cities and cultures around the world, making everything from destination cooking classes to celebrity chef tours (on land and on cruise ships) and a renewed emphasis from airlines on food and beverage ready to be front and centre in 2015. 

As for new destinations Canadians are expected to travel to in 2015, Cheapflights.ca predicts that Tortola (in the British Virgin Islands), Iceland, Bali, Malta, The Alps and Lithuania will be among the locations that travelers add to their must-see lists in 2015.