Tour Operator News: 5 Travel Things March 2024

Welcome to the March edition of 5 Travel Things, tour operator news to keep you and your team up to speed on all things travel industry.

Emerging technologies have undoubtedly revolutionized many industries, yet the travel industry has not full unleashed all their potential.
Emerging technologies are crucial for the travel industry to adapt to and address the evolving consumer demands of global travel.

While hardware sales cooled off dramatically post-pandemic in the bike industry, spending on bike-related travel is a bright spot as Americans shift their spending to experiences rather than products.
Grand View Research’s Cycle Tourism Market Size, Share & Growth Report further solidified that this trend is here to stay, revealing that in 2022, the global cycle tourism market size was up to $117 billion.

Travelers are eager to pair once-in-a-lifetime trips with blockbuster events, and advisors, travel suppliers and event ticket sellers are increasingly working together to craft packages that meet this demand.
According to travel suppliers and sellers, it’s a wave that’s been too slow to grow, as the landscape for packaged trips with ticketed access to major events remains largely underdeveloped, despite demand for those events being consistently high and fast-growing.

In 2024, global travel and tourism revenues are expected to jump by 8.3% and hit almost $930 billion, the highest figure in the market`s history. But the cumulative figures for the past five years are even more impressive.
Statistics show hotels brought far more money than any other market segment in the past five years. Package holidays ranked as the second-largest revenue stream, with $1.28 trillion in five-year spending.

From late March to early May, sakura, i.e. cherry blossoms, begin blooming in Japan, starting in the southwest regions. It’s one of Japan’s busiest travel seasons. Kyoto’s parks are some of the most popular for cherry blossom sightseers.
Tour operators are adjusting their operations amid Japan’s tourism boom during the popular cherry blossom season. “We’ve moved a lot of our clients away from the idea of going during cherry blossom and to let them know how congested and challenging things continue to be,” said Kelly Torrens, vice president of Kensington Tours.

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