During 2006, travel suppliers such as
airlines and hotels found little need to offer discounts as
consumer demand continued to outstrip supply, a trend that shows
few signs of abating next year, according to the research firm of
Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown and
Russell.
Identifying
several hot trends for 2007, YPB&R said it expects travel
suppliers to continue passing on higher rates in the New Year,
thanks in part to the continued growth of leisure
travel.
YPB&R said
the industry should be on the lookout for a spike in Internet
bookings, "but at a significantly lower rate than we have observed
during the past three years."
The firm added,
"The incidence of Internet usage by both business and leisure
travelers to plan some aspect of travel will remain
flat."
YPB&R also is
projecting that travel suppliers will increasingly lean towards
bundled, "inclusive pricing". Already a popular pricing scheme for
resorts, YPB&R believes it will become a popular pricing option
for commercial hotels "seeking to provide road warriors with good
value."
The strong
leisure travel trend, which has been in place for several years, is
expected to continue to outpace that of business travel, YPB&R
said, where technology, such as video conferencing, will continue
to be used as a "surrogate" to business travel.
Spas, already
popular with travelers due to a larger trend toward "wellness,"
should see a boost in interest next year as more consumers seek
ways "to manage the mounting stress in their lives," YPB&R
said.
The arrival of
new ships and the aging U.S. population will keep the cruise
industry sailing smoothly next year, YPB&R said. The firm
anticipates cruising will become "an even more formidable
competitor to land-based resorts and hotels.
On the opposite
end of the age spectrum, YPB&R said, so called "lifestyle"
hotel brands such as NYLO and aloft, Starwood's W Hotels offshoot,
will gain in popularity as generation X, now referred to as
"Millennials" continue to be a larger portion of the travel
market.
That said,
according to YPB&R, another trend to watch is family travel,
which became particularly noticeable after 9/11.
YPB&R
forecasts that it "will continue to grow at a faster rate than all
other forms of leisure travel," as part of a larger trend, in which
families -- parents, children and grandparents -- are increasingly
attempting to reconnect with each other.
To contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail
to Michael Milligan at [email protected].