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What will define the travel purchasing behaviour of Ethical Travellers?
Patricia Simillon
Head of Strategic Marketing, Airlines, Amadeus IT Group
Ethical Travellers will select primarily organisations and travel options that have published details of their social awareness on the environment, their working or purchasing policy, and their good track record on corporate social responsibility. Members of this tribe will not avoid air travel but seek to either offset through activities such as micro-volunteering, or will select alternative modes of transport and accommodation.
Ethical Travellers and their values
This tribe is defined by the fact that their purchasing behaviours reflect their core ethical values. These values are not homogenous; some travellers will consider some issues more important than others. It will be important to understand the nuances of Ethical Travellers and the issues that matter most to each traveller. This will be possible by using social data and machine learning techniques allowing for predictive analytics.
Crucially, this tribe will value transparency and personal decision making; travel providers must be explicit when and how they are using traveller data.
Ethical Travellers already have a clear set of values and worldview that guide their decisions. Members of this tribe will already have a very clear idea as to the destinations and activities they want to avoid. When participating in any activities, they will want to understand the associated carbon emissions, energy efficiency levels, and exactly where their money will go. The amount of detail this group requires will mean they will make decisions during the planning and booking stages and they will be less open to spontaneous purchases while they are on the move.
The first consideration for this tribe is their impact on others and the environment. An artificially intelligent agent able to curate an environmentally neutral travel experience would appeal to this tribe. Travel providers today should focus on environmentally friendly and economically sustainable services and carbon offsetting services to appeal to this tribe.
Volunteering work bundled with a holiday could be appealing; any service that can be seen to ‘give back to the local community’ is a good fit. For example, a two-week holiday in Guatemala could consist of one week helping on the conservation of Lake Atitlan and one week relaxing on the beach of Monterrico.
Want to learn more about the Ethical Travellers of 2030? Have a look at this Periscope video and download our Traveller Tribes 2030 report.
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