10 | Business World Magazine |
April 2014
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Skyscanner Charts Positive
Change in Travel Industry
Global travel search site Skyscanner released
the first of a three-part The Future of Travel
2024 report, examining the dynamic chang-
es consumers will encounter in planning and
taking travel over the next decade. Part one,
“Planning and Booking,” analyzes advances
in wearable, intelligent technology, virtual
reality, tactile feedback technology and se-
mantic search engines that are being devel-
oped and tested today to revolutionize the
travel landscape by 2024.
Advances like these in technology, the re-
port says, together with shifts in economic
and political power, and fluctuations in cul-
ture and climate, will redefine the travel in-
dustry.
“By 2024, travel search and booking will
be as easy as buying a book on Amazon,” said
Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams. “Brands
will adapt to changing consumer behavior
that expects the travel process to focus more
on inspiration and personalized service than
the tactics of finding, scheduling and opti-
mizing travel plans.”
Three top trends that will shape trav-
el discovery, planning and booking in the
2020s are digital travel buddies, wearable,
Internet-connected, artificial intelligence
devices as travel planning and booking tools;
virtual reality, enabling consumers to actu-
