The Big Bang of the Travel Economy
Latitude change in the travel-lifestyle. A new post-pandemic era is emerging and empowering travel creators to unleash their creativity. Are you ready to jump on board?
The Great Reset
The pandemic hit the travel and tourism industry hard in 2020. In France, more than 60 billion euros of revenue will be missing, or one-third of the turnover achieved in 2019. Shocking. Fortunately, as curfews and restrictions are gradually being lifted around the world, the sector is picking up steam and beginning its transformation journey. As Airbnb states in their latest study, the democratization of remote work and digital nomadism are reshaping the industry:
"We are shifting from traveling at the same times to all the same old places, to many of us living anywhere, at any time, for however long. This is not a temporary reaction to these many months of restrictions and isolation —it’s a step toward a world in which living and traveling are one and the same."
This change logically leads to new thinking and new standpoints. These include the Digital Nomads Nation initiative and Plumia, the first unrecognized virtual country that intends to set up the infrastructure to live anywhere, while functioning as a geographical country. An interesting idea, which has its share of grey areas, such as taxes, but also isn’t so far-fetched if we put it in perspective with the new city models imagined by some billionaires. Bill Gates' smart city outside Phoenix, or Marc Lore's Telosa (a $400 billion futuristic city project set up... in the middle of the desert) are sure to turn heads. In addition, there are major new trends, such as sustainable tourism, which bring meaning and action. For example, initiatives such as the Global Himalayan Expedition, which organizes high-impact trips where volunteer trekkers participate in a solidarity project to electrify the most remote villages in the Indian Himalayas. Let there be no doubt about this: in the years to come, we will enter a more reasoned era of conscious travel.
In search of unique experiences
Feeding this changing ecosystem requires content, of course. But not just any kind of content. Consumers are looking for what's unusual, what's exclusive. As proof: in 2021, the number of unique accommodation searches on Airbnb increased by 94 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Among the places most favored on users' wishlists are treehouses, domes or even huts. (!) That’s probably why Airbnb is doubling down on the phenomenon and bringing in more and more exclusive collabs..
As for Google, the query "travel tips" was searched 110K times worldwide last August. That is an increase of 500 percent compared to 2019, before the pandemic - mind blowing!
Faced with this demand, forget generic content. UGC (User Generated Content) is playing a more important role than ever by becoming the first point of interaction when the desire to travel is felt. And it's happening online on social platforms. According to a survey conducted by Morning Consult last May with a sample of 1,503 U.S. adults, 38% of all adults who plan to travel in the summer of 2021 said they would use social media to help them plan their trip, including 54% of millennials. Along the same lines: 49% of Gen Z adults and 50% of millennials said they follow at least one travel influencer on social media. TikTok (50.3 billion views just for the hashtag travel!), Pinterest or even Instagram are obviously the hotspots where these creators operate. But all is not so bright: fragmentation, lack of tools dedicated to the sector, monetization problems... The pain points are numerous.
New players, new opportunities?
Thus, for a few months now, the competition in the discovery segment has become more active, as illustrated in the diagram below.
There are a dozen startups in this ecosystem to inspire you and help you plan your next trip. To put it simply, they could be gathered around three main axes:
B2C (Business-to-Consumer). Travis is a social network 100% dedicated to travel. It features curated travel moodboards, travel stories and personalized recommendations. The founder, Nicole Tj, explained the genesis of the project to me: "One particular trip in 2018 kickstarted our hyper-obsession in this space. Thomas and I were swamped with 42 Google tabs, Instagram screenshots, pinned Google maps, and spreadsheets - trying to plan a 5 week trip. It hit us right then. The travel planning experience is so fragmented - it takes too many apps, it’s hard to share with other people, and it takes too long to go from seeing something I’m inspired by - to making the booking." At least prior to Travis.
Travis : Think Pinterest and Google Maps had a baby. Other projects in this category somewhere between curation and trip-planning: NaviSavi, which, for its part, bills itself as a TikTok of tourism. Its content, exclusively in micro-video format, aims to bridge the gap between the desire to travel, navigation and planning an itinerary. The brand offers to pay the creators whose videos it approves and manages the redirection to book a trip.
Which of these services will be favored by the public? While they are interesting, it's hard to say. All these travel curation apps are still very early-stage and the models are still taking shape. However, scaling in this category seems quite challenging to me, as it implies investing in a new platform while most creators/influencers have built massive audiences on other platforms, even if they lack specific travel features. Moreover, although we can feel a willingness to move away from the classic ad-based model, the current monetization options may seem insufficient to encourage creators to massively invest in these platforms.
B2K2C. (Business-to-Key-Opinion-Leader-to-Consumer). Trovatrip, which recently raised $5 million, presents itself as a marketplace that connects travel groups, essentially influencers, with travelers, often from their fan base. Influencers can choose a destination, select options offered by the platform and promote it to their community. The best part? All logistics are handled by the platform, which partners with tour operators: they charge a basic fee and provide local guides for each group. Trovatrip makes its money by charging travelers a service fee of around 10%, as well as a 2.9% credit card fee. Africa's Wantotrip is another similar model, although the startup seems to focus more on experts who bring their passion into a novel tourism experience rather than the "influencer-fan" connection. I find this category interesting, especially the Trovatrip model, because it turns travel into an influencer-fan engagement tool which could be a game-changer regarding acquisition. Furthermore, it can make the experience more memorable and hence help build loyalty among travelers.
C2C (Creator-to-Consumer). Finally, let's look at a category that intends to become the "home base" for travel creators going pro. Explo allows for monetizing customized experiences such as guided videos and live events.
Explo: Discover the world through the eyes of your favorite creators. Paak focuses on the monetization brick by offering several options: booking commissions, referral bonus rewards, pay per views, etc. The aspect that I particularly like is that these services are not meant to replace traditional social media (a waste of time?) but rather to allow creators to leverage their audiences where they are, focusing on the two ends that are often mismanaged by traditional players, namely, 1/ The creation process, specific to the travel industry and 2/ Monetization. Imagine the power of Canva + Substack. This is, in my opinion, the most promising approach. Special mention for Fora, still in beta, which seems to distinguish itself from the other players, by positioning itself more like an OTA (online travel agency). A social-by-design model that could challenge Booking, Expedia and others? In any case, this is the approach taken by another company, Coridoor, which is worth following closely!
What's next?
Independent creators will continue to be a growing part of this ecosystem in a way that didn't exist before the rise of social platforms. But the challenge I see is, are creators and travelers willing to invest in yet another platform? I'm personally skeptical, unless these players position themselves on the OTA segment where the transaction takes place, adding a social flywheel. But even so, the question of governance arises: at the time of Web3 emergence, isn't it about creating, or at least laying the bricks of a decentralized model that would give real power to creators? For sure the sector offers many opportunities. Recently, I came across Lost Worlds, which intends to create a new dimension for NFTs where explorers can travel to real world locations to unlock access to projects from creators nearby. The founders call this "Proof of Travel."
Nowadays, NFTs are successful because they allow a unique digital object to be shared infinitely, without losing ownership. But they are mostly a form of status signal, not necessarily "utilitarian," as is the case with this project. But we are still in the early stages experimenting and figuring it out. So stay tuned... and start planning your next vacations now!
Marie
Thanks to Prakhar Shivam, Kristofer Moisan, Eytan Messika and Mehul Lad for providing helpful suggestions.
Happy to share this cross-interview with Matt Klein (Trend leads at Reddit). Matt has become one my absolute favorite trend analysts. His substack is worth subscribing to if you don't already. Good stuff.
The Target? McKinsey.
How Gaming will change the humanity: “The lesson is clear: If you wish to create a new economic institution, put it inside a game.”
Nine Tech Innovation Trends Leading the Executive Agenda in 2021. My favorites? “Nudging” customers & reskilling with gamification.
Cooking therapy to make you feel better? There is a huge offer. Like this one, or this one. In other words: therapy that doesn’t feel like therapy. I’m pretty sure that there is more to come.