Five Retailing Trends from Travelport
Our One Global GDS supplier, Travelport, has revealed its five retailing trends which it thinks will shake up the industry this year.
It’s ‘State of Modern Retailing Report 2025’ quizzed more than 2,000 consumers around the world.
Industries like banking, fashion and entertainment have already experienced huge change and the report quizzes those sectors to see what we can learn from them.
The first thing Travelport’s survey showed up is ‘consumer washing’ which they define as ‘companies doing things they pretend are in the consumer’s interest, but really it is about profit’.
But they say consumers are getting wise to this and say TMCs have a great opportunity to solve these problems through honesty and transparency.
Secondly, while some companies are busy consumer washing, others are giving people what they really want.
There is high demand for things being faster and easier to do.
Rather than updating a few old processes, some companies have been rewriting the rulebook to improve a user’s tech experience which, in turn, makes things far more efficient.
Something else highlighted by Travelport is the fact some competitors are joining forces for the benefit of consumers, as well as their bank balances!
Consumers have so many choices which can be a minefield – they’re desperate for a trusted partner to help them choose – it could be time for travel to adapt.
The fourth finding of the survey was that subscriptions are really taking off.
From beer, bikes to books, travel could make the jump and introduce subscriptions. It’s one thing having loyalty programmes but respondents to the survey, who travel as little as three times a year, said they would be open to a travel subscription.
Unsurprisingly, AI makes an appearance in the insights for 2025.
From those early days of scepticism, people are now more inquisitive and want to know more and things are predicted to really ramp up now as trust grows in the tech.
It’s a really good read this report – Travelport rounds things off by saying: “We think 2025 could be the year that travel agencies really get their moment to shine. As the tipping point inches closer, the question is: ‘are you ready’?”
Read Travelport’s travel trends report in full here:
