An analysis of younger travellers sheds light on the need for businesses to be more integrated with digital technologies, with many takeaways that Student Educational Tour Operators could implement.
Younger travelers demand a more integrated digital journey, and the industry will be forced to respond. They will accelerate the digital way of life and popularize fringe technologies by 2027. Many are frequent travelers who are ‘self-service first,’ and they embrace biometrics and digital passes to benefit from travel efficiency and convenience.
Digital identities, border crossings, and mobile platforms offer ample opportunities for younger digital native travelers who are familiar with using their mobile phone as a remote control for travel; market share will increase as digital natives become a more significant proportion of the passenger demographic, creating a seismic shift towards ‘digital first.’
According to the WTTC 2022 Global Trends report, younger travelers were the first to drive industry recovery and steer post-pandemic travel trends.
There are encouraging signs toward ‘mobile-first travel.’ Apple Wallet’s support for digital identity and mobile driving licenses/US State IDs for travel marked an important milestone. The digital identities that underpin Digital Travel are part of a much bigger ecosystem, which relies on the next generation of self-service technology infrastructure, featuring integrated cloud, mobile, and biometric-enabled self-service touchpoints for check-in, bagdrop, border control, and boarding. The combination of digital identities with this infrastructure provides a seamless, touchless, and personalized travel experience while allowing travelers to remain firmly in control of their data.
Governments, companies, and standards bodies have been working hard to create the next generation of self-service travel infrastructure. SITA leads in delivering solutions where ‘your face is your passport and boarding pass’ and ‘your mobile is your remote control for travel,’ in a new paradigm underpinned by digital identity.
https://www.sita.aero/innovation/meet-the-megatrends/index.html
