New report calls on the travel industry to create personalised ‘purchasing experiences’ based on the motivations of tomorrow’s travellers

Madrid & Bangkok, June 2 2015 – In a world where travellers are no longer defined by their demographic segment but by their values, behaviours and motivations, airlines and other travel providers will need to harness the wealth of data and social media information now available to create bespoke ‘purchasing experiences’ that cater to individual needs.

That’s the key finding of ‘Future Traveller Tribes 2030: Building a more rewarding journey’, which outlines precisely how airlines and their complementary service providers can better serve traveller needs in the future through more effective merchandising strategies, explaining also how the traveller journey itself will change by 2030, thanks to better use of traveller data, new technologies and a widening range of sales channels.

At the same time, personalised bundles of products and services, perpetual touchpoints between the travel provider and traveller, and frictionless purchasing will all characterise the traveller experience of the future, the report says. New sales channels will emerge in tandem, and can be divided into ‘inspiration’ channels (smartphone, tablet, virtual reality headset), which offer more immersive experiences and will be used as discovery tools; and ‘information’ channels (smartwatch, augmented reality glasses and service robots), which will focus on short-form content and purchasing.

With these developments, data will become the most important resource available to airlines, giving the competitive advantage to those that can most effectively collect and use it. Moreover, the report also outlines how new technologies and techniques for collecting and using data will drive ever-greater personalisation of the travel experience in the coming decade.

Robert Sinclair-Barnes, Strategic Marketing Director, Airline IT, Amadeus said: “The first phase of our Future Traveller Tribes study identified who travel providers will need to cater to in the future; this report provides airlines and their complementary service partners with practical advice about how they can prepare for and cater to emerging traveller segments at each of the nine stages of the traveller journey. Ultimately, understanding traveller motivations and the evolution of purchasing behaviours will equip airlines and other providers to build a more rewarding and connected traveller journey for tomorrow’s travellers.”

Lawrence Lundy, Principal ICT Consultant, Frost & Sullivan, commented: “As travel providers devise strategies to become customer experience providers, it’s essential that they consider how to build purchasing experiences that meet the needs of future traveller groups. Social Capital Seekers, as just one example, will seek inspiration for travel from their social media networks and will expect a very high degree of personalisation from providers. They’ll be open to new services at any stage of their journey, readily trading their data to receive priority treatment, and comfortable with new technologies such as service robots or augmented reality applications.”

‘Future Traveller Tribes 2030: Building a more rewarding journey’, will be launched at Amadeus’ Airline Digital Merchandising conference taking place in Bangkok between the 01-03 June 2015. During the conference over 100 airline digital leaders will come together to discuss and debate the latest Amadeus and industry developments, which this year include personalisation, customer experience management and user design.

The report follows another study recently commissioned by Amadeus, Future Traveller Tribes 2030: Understanding tomorrow’s traveller, written by the Future Foundation and published earlier this year, which identified the six key ‘traveller tribes’ or segments that will emerge by the end of the next decade.

To download both reports, please visit www.amadeus.com/tribes2030

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Amadeus

Amadeus is a leading provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, ferry operators, and car rental companies etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and travel management companies).

The Amadeus group employs around 10,000 people worldwide, across central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters), Nice (development) and Erding (operations), as well as 71 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations globally.

The group operates a transaction-based business model. For the year ended December 31, 2014 the company reported revenues of €3,417.7 million and EBITDA of €1,306.0 million.

Amadeus is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMS.MC" and is a component of the IBEX 35 index.

To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com/global, and www.amadeus.com/blog for more on the travel industry.