The Future of Travel Trade – helping VisitFlanders and the Art Cities respond to the evolving global travel landscape

With so many changes and disruptions in the global tourism sector over the last two-three years, have you stopped to think about how much the travel trade landscape has changed?

Who are the rising stars and big disruptors? Which intermediaries will remain in the market in a decade’s time? Considering the ever-expanding digitalisation and automation of travel, is there still some space for your friendly local travel agent? Are travellers more likely to use Google or a local tour operator to book their trip?

How is sustainability changing the travel trade? Are companies that provide low-carbon options on the rise? And, last but not least, what’s the role of a national, regional and local Destination Management Organisation (DMO) in this landscape?

So, in a nutshell: what is the travel trade sector of the future going to look like, and how should a DMO respond?

The changing travel trade landscape

Over the last five months, TOPOSOPHY has been working on a major study on the travel trade sector of the future in order to help guide Visit Flanders (a regional DMO in Belgium) together with five Art Cities (Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen) in navigating the changing travel trade landscape.

Defining the very nature of this transformation is a challenging task, especially during times of uncertainty caused by the cumulative effects of political, financial, social, environmental and technological changes. As these changes are ongoing, they require DMOs to continually improve their understanding of demand and supply in travel, and to understand how both Visit Flanders and the Art Cities can better address the needs of local businesses, international and local partners, and of course, travellers.

Finding the answers

We started by conducting extensive primary and secondary research and analysis of trends in consumer travel behaviour and their use of intermediaries before, during and post pandemic. This included 10+ in-depth interviews with global industry experts as well as a consumer survey of 2000+ respondents in six major outbound markets most relevant to Flanders.

We also analysed the role and the impacts of the emerging and often disrupting players such as subscription-based travel services, financial technology companies, and data analytics companies. We have also conducted a benchmark analysis of several DMOs across the globe and their relations with the travel trade. To complement our research, we also ran several online workshops with Visit Flanders and the Art Cities to discuss the findings and their relevance to their current and future relationships with the travel trade.

Results

All the insights we gathered allowed us to develop key priority areas to focus on, several actions and practical recommendations that form a solid base for the new Travel Trade Strategy for VisitFlanders and the Art Cities. This Strategy will guide the marketing and partnerships activities of VisitFlanders and the Art cities over the coming five years. We have also produced a dedicated toolkit with practical recommendations on why and how to work with a variety of the travel trade partners to effectively execute the Strategy, backed up by examples from other destinations for inspiration and further guidance.

As a result, we have developed a strong strategy framework that is built to position Flanders’ unique offer within a sector that is undergoing continual evolution. With this framework Visit Flanders and the Art Cities are now in the process of building the strategy. 

What did we do?

• Partner consultation: two rounds of 1:1 interviews with Visit Flandersa and the Art Cities (at the beginning and towards the end of the project)
• Trends report & benchmarking analysis
• 1:1 Interviews with travel trade executives
• Consumer survey on travel planning/booking (6 markets, 2000+ respondents)
• Co-creation strategy sprint with industry experts, Visit Flanders and the Art Cities
• Strategy report with the key pillars, actions and recommendations
• Travel trade toolkit
• Implementation workshop to present final deliverables