The past year was a roller coaster ride for the travel industry witnessing some major overhauls in the airline industry like the US airways and American Airlines merger to offering enhanced customer experience to travelers (social media bookings, free Wifi on planes etc.). With the advent of New Year, travel companies are looking for ways to re-invent the wheel making travel an exceptional experience for travelers. We have analyzed various research reports like IDC, Forrester, Gartner to bring together 14 forecasts for 2014 that would serve as market driver for travel and hospitality companies.

1. 14 forecasts defining new age travel
in 2014

2. 1
287 billion apps
download predicted
worldwide by 2016
The fast penetration of smartphones across all strata of the society has completely altered the way
individuals communicate and use the internet. People are looking for apps across all sectors of society
for diversified functions. The apps have radically changed the travel industry with applications
around mobile concierge apps, itinerary building apps to geo targeted maps available to help people
get around from origin to destination. .
*Source: Gartner Forecast, Sep 2013

3. 2
52% of smartphone
users want to use
their fingerprints
instead of passwords
Sites are demanding longer passwords
with a mixture of numbers, letters and
symbols which makes them almost
impossible to remember. This has led
to the industry to search for alternatives
like biometric recognitions. In travel
industry, this would mean that
passengers would want to use their
body parts such as fingerprints to be
considered as their tickets.
*Source: : Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform 2013

4. 3
Peer to Peer travel
has grown to be USD
3.5 billion industry
Sites like AirBnB have now been
around for over five years and have
made it big in public space.
Collaborative economy has been going
mainstream with sites such as
Tripadvisor and yelp making big
strides to bypass the traditional
channels to become the main channel
of communication for voicing concerns
and feedback. New technologies have
made it very easy for people to deal
directly with other people, and
propagate peer-to-peer network (P2P).
It is safe to say that collaborative
economy would be a disruptor in the
travel industry in this new year.
*Source: Forbes Estimates

5. 4
40 zettabytes would be
added to the digital
footprints by 2020
We are experiencing sensors in
everyday places from thermostats,
alarm systems, traffic lights and
even our phones, each contain
sensors that detect changes in the
environment such as light, sound,
movement and location. This has
enabled data to be present
everywhere and thus providing us
an opportunity to harness this
potential.
By the end of 2016, around 60% of
smartphone owners believe that
sensors will be used in everything
from healthcare and public
transport, to cars, homes and
places of work In travel landscape,
this would mean that an enhanced
user experience in terms of offering
a more engaging and immersive
experience.
*Source: IDC Forecast

6. 5
$3.7 trillion to $10.8 trillion a year
impact due to mobile Internet
According to Mckinsey insights, the mobile Internet is
still in its infancy despite its rapid growth. With only 1
or 2 billion of the planet's 7 billion inhabitants already
connected to the Internet, there's still "a tremendous
amount of head room" for the mobile Internet to have
even more impact than it has already had. "The vast
majority of those who have not been connected to the
Internet will be connected through mobile devices," the
report says. "Any global business should be thinking
about the possibilities of having the mobile Internet
applied to this vast majority of people around the
planet who have not yet had access to the mobile
Internet."
*Source: McKinsey Global Institute

7. 6
Forrester makes the point that “A great digital
experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it‟s a make-orbreak point for your business as we more fully enter
the digital age.” The report points to a growing number
of firms falling flat because “systems of record cannot
keep up with engagement needs.” To a greater extent,
customers‟ impressions of a business are established
through digital engagement forcing businesses to
recognize that “software is the brand.” In short, digital
experience delivery would make or break the firms.
Digital experience failed for
many companies due to
systems unable to keep up
with engagement needs
*Source: Forrester Reports

8. 7
52% of guests cite Wi-Fi as
important and even a deal
breaker when booking hotels
Most big airlines are already offering Wi-Fi at least
domestically, and JetBlue and Southwest just recently
rolled out their Wi-Fi access too. But now that the FAA
has approved gate-to-gate use of portable electronic
devices, one can expect to see airlines competing to
offer the same broadband experience you get on the
ground. Wifi would be ubiquitously used for in- car
travel and throughout the hotel journey of the guest.
*Source: IHG Research

9. 8
BPM focusing more on process
optimization to enhance
customer experience
*Source: Gartner Forecast, Sep 2013

10. 9
Travelers are hit
with 20+ sites
before they make
a booking
decision
Today we are witnessing an
explosion of meta search travel
sites and features, facilitated by
advancements in digital
technology and advertisers‟
perceptions of these sites as
“unbiased” online media players
compared to the OTAs. The idea
is to keep the customer in a
single place, where all the
information can be found, rather
than searching multiple online
travel agency sites. This also
potentially means higher
conversion rates, which is good
for hoteliers, restaurants and
other attractions
*Source: NetIAffinity Trends

11. 10
Automated SMSes, emails and
calls to enable frictionless travel
Travel processes automation holds tremendous potential to make passengers‟ lives so much easier.
Receiving an automated email for the flight allowing passengers to register for pre-boarding,
ensuring proper seating and avoiding getting bumped due to over-booking has become a norm.
From email, to SMS and e-passport, it will be interesting to see how fast travel companies embrace
this sea of change for an enhanced traveler experience.
*Source: Frederic Gonzalo Travel Marketing Trends

12. 11
Several factors continue to work
together to shift outsourcing activity back
to the U.S. and its nearshore neighbors.
As many routine IT tasks becomes
automated, and the incremental benefits
from labor arbitrage are diminishing, the
global labor pool for IT outsourcing will
continue to shrink. As the talent pool
becomes smaller and more expensive,
and routine tasks are undertaken by
machines instead of people, the demand
for more highly skilled individuals rises.
This further diminishes the prospect of
outsourcing these tasks to significantly
lower-cost labor markets.
Outsourcing of IT
services overseas
may drop by at least
15% through to 2016
*Source: SAP Blogs

13. 12
34% of companies
investing in the
work at home area
100,000 home-based agents will be
working in the US by the end of 2013;
92 per cent of home-agents will be in the
US and that is because they have
different laws there. But according to
Forrester 34 per cent of companies are
investing in the work at home area.
Alaska airlines began the work-at-home
program in 2006 and is on pace to have
80 percent of its agents working from
home by the end of this year
*Source: Forrester Report

14. 13
London to create airport of the
future with Internet of Things
The IoT refers to the explosion of embedded sensors and intelligent devices that are flooding our
everyday lives. Sensors are being embedded in all sorts of „things‟ from fitness monitors, to cars, to
water main valves. London Airport has received a grant to implement preliminary trial of crosstechnology networking also known as Internet of Things. Some of these features include tracking
passengers through a mix of face recognition and crowd-sourcing software.
*Source: MIT Conference

15. 14
Today, companies are increasingly capitalizing on digital ecosystems and
are leveraging Social Networks, Mobile Computing, Analytics and Cloud
Computing (collectively known as SMAC). This confluence of technology
has created an environment for production at a faster rate, together with
customer interaction. With the consumer technology model penetrating and
transforming the corporation in significant ways, the creation of hyperintelligent software programs that are able to tackle a number of issues has
transformed business models across the world.
Adoption of
SMAC is seen
as next highest
priority by over
50% of global
CIOs
*Source: Deliotte CIO survey, 2013

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