Three Refreshing New Travel and Tourism Industry Trends

What is the unifying theme behind many of the latest travel & tourism industry trends? They are meant to refresh weary travellers.

Whereas travel & tourism used to be primarily focused on escape and entertainment, today's tourism management teams are always on the lookout for ways to keep tired travellers feeling balanced, happy and healthy. The reputation of an airport or ski lodge can no longer stand on the quality of its cocktails alone.

A recent reading of the travel & tourism section in the Montreal Gazette newspaper reveals three emerging trends in tourism management: airport yoga, frequent flyer spa treatments and back-to-the-basics environmentally friendly ski vacations.

1. Yoga Rooms in Airports

San Francisco International Airport is the first airport in the world to offer a yoga room for the benefit of passengers on long layovers. Can we expect to see the symbol for the room - a drawing of a stick person in seated meditation pose - in future textbooks for tourism schools?

Yoga rooms in airports are an example of the travel & tourism industry responding to travellers' changing priorities. As interest in a healthy, active lifestyle continues to grow, we can expect tourism management teams to seek more ways to help their customers find balance, even while on a long trip.

2. Is That a Spa or an Airport Lounge?

Some airport lounges are now offering first-class passengers the option of taking a shower or napping in a dedicated sleep room. With the new Senator Lounge in Frankfurt International Airport, the tourism management teams for the local airline Lufthansa have found a unique way to refresh first-class passengers: the Lounge offers the possibility of spa treatments, which can be paid for with frequent flyer points.

Increasingly, tourism management teams will need to think beyond traditional travel & tourism offerings (e.g., cocktails, meals) to incorporate new services not previously covered in tourism schools, such as:

• Facial treatments (for men and women alike)


• Massages

With its Senator Lounge, the Lufthansa tourism management team is showing its willingness to adapt to the changing demands of the travel & tourism markets. More and more, adaptability may be the key message conveyed in tourism schools.

3. Eco-lodges

Forget about multi-course meals in a gourmet restaurant! The latest travel & tourism trends speak to simpler tastes.

Today's eco-ski lodges boast such features as:

• composting toilets


• biodegradable soap


• brown bag lunches made with local, organic food


• solar power


• wood-pellet heating

Industry teams of the future, take note. Schools must focus on teaching students how to adapt to the changing demands of the travel & tourism industry as per these three recent examples.

Visit Canadian Tourism College for more information on Travel and tourism programs.

Guest Blogger: Percey Evans is a freelance writer who works for Higher Education Marketing, a leading Web marketing firm specializing in Google Analytics, Education Lead Generation, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Mobile SMS Alerts, Social Media Marketing and Pay Per Click Marketing, among other Web marketing services and tools. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Percey_Evans

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