Our lifestyle choices are changing the way we travel

Like a flash in the sky that has been going on for three years now, crises caused by geo-political events have led travel consumers to think more deeply about the enjoyment of their holidays. A new sensitivity with respect to environmental aspects has become the driver for choosing a kind of eco-sustainable holiday or, at any rate, one with an increasingly lighter impact on the environment. What was taken for granted until a few years ago has been perceived as consumable and not infinite in these years of crisis. A revolution in the mentality of the tourist who has become a traveller .

These themes were the key focus that emerged at Allianz Partners’ Global Travel Summit 2022 on the theme of ‘Wonderland’, three days of virtual meetings that engaged over 1,000 participants in a debate on the latest trends in the travel industry as the world emerges from the global pandemic and faces a new set of challenges due to geopolitical and economic uncertainty. 

For the travel industry, the new world holds new opportunities due to its key role as a reference for eco-conscious consumers.

Allianz Partners has teamed up with Foresight Factory, a global consumer trend analyst, and other industry experts to explore current and future trends affecting travel.

Six out of ten families (60%) in the 25/40 age group say they will pay more attention to the environmental impact of their travels in the future, compared to the pre-pandemic period[2].
This finding is also confirmed in our country, especially among childless Millennials (26/40 years old). In fact, more than half of the respondents in this bracket (52%) said that they would pay more attention to the environmental impact of their trips in the future, compared to the pre-pandemic period.
In addition, more than 7 out of 10 consumers in the UK, Germany and the US say that choices related to environmental protection are increasingly important when purchasing travel packages.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

If we go even further into the analysis of the data, we can see that ethical issues weigh more and more heavily in the choices of travellers, to the point that more than half (56%) of the 25-40 year old households surveyed intend to travel less in the future, further reducing their environmental impact.

This finding is also confirmed in Italy, albeit to a lesser extent, especially among childless Millennials (26/40 years old), 38% of whom plan to reduce travel in the future in order to impact less on the environment.

A behaviour that does not stop, therefore, at just consuming fewer resources directly in the journey, but with different times . The time spent on one’s holiday must give up ‘speed’ to use less impactful means of transport such as caravans, trains or camper vans. At the same time giving a higher qualitative importance to the experience itself , lived with ‘slowness’.

As with any system that focuses on environmental sustainability, the cost of implementation is a central issue and the travel sector is no exception.

Households are being directly impacted by geopolitical unrest and the resulting supply chain problems, which are causing severe economic disruption due to soaring gas and food prices. All this is having a knock-on effect on the tourism industry, the cost of travel, and in particular long-haul flights, which are becoming more and more expensive. However, it is also affecting hotel and restaurant costs, which could pass these increases on to consumers.

SI , MA QUANTO MI COSTI

A reduction in business travel has limited costs for companies and helped them reduce their carbon footprint, contributing to the achievement of sustainability goals. However, many employees desire live interaction with their customers and consumers. Companies now have to mediate between achieving sustainability goals and employee desires: as many return to the office, the desire for business travel grows, while some companies use business travel as a lever to attract talent and retain employees, and are willing to change their policies for these purposes.

This is creating a trade-off between wanting to be low impact in the ecological system to very impactful in terms of physical and direct experiences to be had in the physical world. A challenge that the Hospitality world will have to face more and more in the years to come..

The ecological transition, with today’s technologies, cannot be tackled at zero cost in any sector, but, especially due to new geopolitical scenarios, there will be changes towards this less impactful and sustainable philosophy of living that will be necessary and that Western governments themselves will necessarily have to face.

In conclusion, environmental sustainability in travel is no longer seen as an option of choice, rather it is a plus that is taken for granted to be already included in the travel packages to be purchased, therefore, the environmental protection mouthpiece in Hospitality is passing completely into the hands of the hotel industry insiders who by default will have to prepare green sustainability policies in the products to be sold and created.