Global travel companies' stocks are driven more by external influences than economic factors when it comes to important aspects of the transition. Travel & Tourism Radar's survey shows that the approximately 330 travel companies surveyed worldwide offer a generally positive economic outlook. It also offers insight into their investment plans and how they view their ability to compete.
Positive business outlook and stable investment plans for digitalisation
Overall, respondents are positive about the current situation in the second quarter of this year, especially compared to the previous three months. The outlook for the immediate future also appears positive. The companies surveyed are therefore optimistic about developments in the coming quarter. The survey organisers highlight stable investment plans and point out the direction that future investments could take.
Online presence and digital marketing were the most frequently mentioned areas, accounting for 44% of responses. Aspects such as training courses accounted for almost 29%. Collaboration and stakeholder engagement came in third at just over 28%, with responses split evenly between IT/software and customer relationship management. There was much less emphasis on new infrastructure and buildings or purchasing digital hardware.
When asked specifically about the factors that influence their ability to compete, most companies respond that competition occurs mainly in their own market and country. They consider that digitalisation has no positive or negative impact on their competitiveness, while in terms of equality and diversity they consider that they fully meet their objectives.
The political and economic situation has the greatest influence on companies
The survey provides an interesting insight into external factors and how they influence tourism businesses. The most frequent response was the political and economic situation, including inflation, at 62 percent. (Digital) marketing and product development was the second most frequent response (54 percent), followed by artificial intelligence and digitalisation (51 percent). Sustainability and climate were equally frequent responses.
External pressure is the driving force
According to the ITB Travel & Tourism Radar, companies consider efforts to promote sustainability in the environment, economy and society to be equally important. In this context, their activities seem to be primarily motivated by legislation and ethical human resources standards. More than half of the companies surveyed consider the protection of nature and the environment to be very important. However, around a third of respondents consider customer satisfaction to be the main goal of their sustainability efforts, while only 15 percent want to combine them with business success or see them as an opportunity for their company.
Nearly 40 percent of surveyed tourism businesses identify regional partnerships as the area requiring the most improvement. However, overall, their decision-making is influenced by legislation and customer expectations, rather than their own motivations. Digitalisation is the area with the greatest potential for improvement, although this is often out of necessity.
“During the pandemic, the debate in our industry has often focused on the long-term need to be crisis-proof,” says Deborah Rothe, Director of ITB Berlin. “The present study shows that sustainability efforts are often driven more by necessity than by economic motivation – for us, it is a signal to address and explore this topic at the next edition of ITB Berlin.”
The results of the first edition of the ITB Travel & Tourism Radar as well as information on the methods used can be downloaded online. The second part of the survey is planned for mid-October. In it, ITB Berlin and the Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften will focus more on digitalisation. "We want to analyse the specific needs of the travel industry in order to adapt the congress programme to the specific needs," says Prof. Dr. Heinz-Dieter Quack, who is leading the survey. A third online survey will be carried out among industry players at the end of the year.
The results of the three surveys will feed into the programme planning for the ITB Berlin 2025 Convention, which will be held from 4-6 March in parallel to ITB Berlin. The aim is to examine how the industry can in the future consider digitalisation and sustainability efforts as more than just a requirement dictated by legislation and customer needs.