Explosive times: ‘anyone standing still in travel will be left behind’

The recently published EyeforTravel Half-Year Round-Up and Forecast 2015 identifies some positive future trends but warns of more disruption than ever

Although the travel industry is enjoying a year of rising revenues, passenger numbers and occupancy rates, the pace of change in the way many sectors do business is creating its own set of challenges, writes EyeforTravel, head of research, Alex Hadwick, in the introduction to a brand new report.

Published in August, the new EyeforTravel Half-Year Round-Up and Forecast 2015 from economist and analyst Sally White is here to help. To set the scene the report starts by charting some global need-to know numbers; these highlight where growth is looking strongest and include a few records.

A handful of notable figures:

In percentages:

4% - the rise in visits to the UK visits between May 2014 and 2015 - a record

38%- outbound travel expected to rise to the US from Mexico by 2020

80% - how much IATA expects airline industry profits to grow in 2015 – another record

In millions:

20 million – the number of overnight stays in Germany in the first four months of 2015

62 million  - the number of Chinese who travelled abroad in the first half of 2015, a rise of 13%

26 million– the number of mobile subscribers added in India in Q1 alone

In billions:

$58 billion: the estimated global real estate transaction volume in 2015

$50 billion: the rumoured valuation of a potential Uber IPO

Mobile times

Aside from the big numbers the report provides a concise and useful overview of the broad economic trends likely to impact the travel sector in the coming months, and highlights some key figures from all major global economies. It also documents specific industry trends in the airline, hotel, online travel and business travel sectors.

What’s abundantly clear is that the explosive rise of mobile is set to continue and will have a huge impact on how consumers can increasingly call the shots. According to the GSMA there were 3.7 billion unique mobile subscribers by mid-2015. By 2020 it expects to there to be 4.6 billion individual users.

Citing Comscore White writes: ‘Overall, the consumption of digital media 
is on the rise but it is the field of mobile where the growth is most striking. From 2010 to 2014, the time spent on digital platforms in the US increased by 157%. Within this, desktop consumption increased by 37% but smartphone increased by 394%’

Like we said at the start of this report update, anyone standing still will be left behind.

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