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Venturing Across Borders will begin to pick up in April and May 2021. Three-quarters of frequent travelers still have trips at least tentatively planned, and the joy travel brings remains ingrained especially as travelers look forward to 2021. In a recent survey, nearly 60% of Americans agree that having a vacation scheduled in the next six months would make them feel there is something happy to look forward to in the new year. In addition to that, travel will be conducted according to new 2020 standards to ensure health, safety and sanitation is maintained prior to departure, during travel, and after arrival.

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Here are five trends that Trove is forecasting for 2021:

1. Tighter protocols for safety and sanitation: As international and domestic travel picks up at the end of 2020 and early 2021, air travel will inevitably bring travelers in close contact with other people. Batam Tourism Polytechnic, a private Indonesian university, has predicted that transportation companies will continue to enforce health protocols to ensure travelers' safety. Due to this, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), when planning travel, travelers should check airlines websites to understand what safety precautions are in place including mask requirements, social distancing guidelines, cleaning procedures, and contactless reservations. In addition, visitors should pin down travel requirements for their point of origin and destination prior to booking travel.
2. New Travelers Preferences: Traveler preferences have shifted in favor of the more predictable forms of travel, a trend that will in most estimations continue through the next six months. Travelers will continue to extensively plan trips (versus ad-hoc trip hopping) and outdoor experiences will reign supreme in the short-term.
3. Digitization of Travel Preparation: According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the pandemic is forcing the tourism sector to innovate and adopt digital technologies. Destinations and tour companies are forced to adapt and provide prospective visitors options to explore potential travel options through Extended Reality (XR), online tours, new online marketing campaigns, and online forums with local residents.
4. Personalization of Tourist Experiences: Tourists will not take the decision to travel to a specific location lightly, especially after not traveling for months. Personalization applies to every aspect of the tourist experience, from marketing prior to visit to the actual experience when there. Today, visitors expect tailored advertisements that closely mimic the experiences that they are looking for, and travelers look to be able to customize a personal travel experience.
5. Individual Travel: Given that extensive planning is on the rise, travelers want to be able to choose to do whatever they want. Socially distancing in groups creates a new form of complexity when traveling. According to The Points Guy, more and more destinations are tailoring experiences (and presenting new deals) for travelers going at it alone.

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It is critical for destination marketing organization, agencies and tour companies to plan for the 2021 traveler instead of the 2019 traveler and to closely track changing tastes and attitudes. To learn more about Trove’s strategy and research work, go here.

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Feature written by Trove, tourism development and destination marketing agency.

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