Hilton employs the hotel industry’s first Watson-enabled robot concierge. In partnership with IBM, the hotel group has introduced “Connie” – a new robotic helper who can greet guests upon arrival and answer questions about hotel amenities, services and hours of operation.
Luxury Travel Trends Shift As Affluent Millennials Act On Their Aspirations. Many millennials today are entering their peak earning years and gaining more affluence at unprecedented rates. For brands in the travel industry this is great news. And millennials agree that travelling and seeing the world is an intricate part of their lives.
Nature and food are the biggest drawcards for Asian female travellers, a new study has revealed. In a report surveying 2,800 female travelers across Asia, nature (cited by 65% of respondents) is the biggest attraction for Asian women when travelling, followed by food (61%) and art & history (56%). 50% of women make all the travel decisions while 46% include their partner in the planning process.
Increase in air transportation supply from China to Europe: Air China, Sichuan Airlines, China Eastern, Austrian Airlines, KLM and Qatar Airways have all added or inaugurated new flights. Chengdu is also expected to become the most important aviation hub in Central and West China.
The main EU countries will open 53 new visa centers in China to make the visa application easier. Countries include Finland, Germany and Sweden, opening more than 10 centers across cities such as Hangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing.
Hong Kong and Taiwan joined forces to entice more travelers to both destinations in the same trip. In a bold, innovative and unprecedented move, the tourism boards of two major Asian destinations, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and the Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB), have formed a new partnership to target the US outbound market, with the aim of attracting more American leisure travellers to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
For destination marketers, it is important to enter the mobile platforms to woo Chinese outbound travelers. Chinese travellers do not like email as much as they do SMS and messaging platforms are inextricably linked with mobile. 70% of the bookings were made from their mobile phones.
Tourism Intelligence International reveals the Top Ten Trends in Travel & Tourism Trends for 2016. Issues involving the mobile and desktop platforms, sharing economies, personalisation, emergence of Chinese travellers and the second-tier cities all made the charts.
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