Expect steady visitation to Rio de Janeiro in the run-up to the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The new year signals a time to look at new and growing travel trends for the seasons ahead. But don’t limit your look at travel trends and emerging destinations just to January.
Each quarter, focus on five trending travel topics, and ways they can tie into your writing.
By focusing on these 2015 travel trends as time pegs for your site and travel articles, you’re providing more end value for readers, clients and editors.
1) World Cup Halo Effect
In the afterglow of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, expect the global travel spotlight to continue to shine on host country Brazil, which will see the return of world-class athletics with the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
The halo effect of the Cup will extend to fellow Latin American nations including Chile, Colombia and Argentina, all of which scored global face time during the football tourney.
It’s part of a broader trend of increasing international inbound visitation to South America. After 27.4 million arrivals to the region in 2013, the UN World Tourism Organization projects inbound tourism to climb to 40 million by 2020.
Brazil isn’t sitting back idly awaiting 2016. The Brazilian Tourist Board is embarking on a campaign to drive visitation for the 2016 games, with a focus on North America. More than 100,000 Americans attended the Brazil Cup, second only to Argentina in international arrivals.
A rebound of inbound arrivals to Brazil from other South American nationals is expected in the year between international sports events.
Also expect to see a World Cup halo effect in Cup-champion Germany. Already the second-most visited country in Europe, Deutschland has earned buzz and bragging rights for four years.
Owner rental sites like AirBnb and HomeAway have blown open the travelers lodging option landscape.
2) Sharing Economy: Growth, Growing Pains
Airbnb has topped 10 million global guest stays since its 2008 founding, and has started to eat into hotel revenue with its differentiated guest experience.
With its successes have come public relations challenges, including a few embarrassing headlines about guest behavior and a series of city-by-city political negotiations as local governments struggle to align Airbnb’s business model with existing hotel and residency laws.
Airbnb’s PR issues pale compared to fellow sharing economy titan Uber. The game-changing, private-ride transportation app may be revolutionizing urban travel, but its company culture has come under fire for a series of uber-tone deaf moves.
While Uber says they’re changing, the winner in all this may be competing private-ride provider Lyft, the pink mustachioed competitor with a lighter yin to Uber’s colder yang. As Uber takes (invites?) the media arrows, Lyft grows with smiles and fist bumps.
Some say transportation and education may be the next industries ripe for disruption. Others could be activities, gear and home improvement.
Grand Teton National Park
3) U.S. National Parks: Ramping Up to 2016
After a decade of robust visitation thanks to post-9/11 heritage travel, currency fluctuations and the rise of “staycations” for Americans, US National Park Service attendance trailed off in 2013.
Much of the decline can be attributed to the impact of the Oct. 2013 U.S. government shutdown, which cut off guest access to the Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, et al.
But the Park Service has a vested interest in restoring faith in its parks: the 2016 centennial of its founding in August 1916, an anniversary expected to raise awareness, globally and domestically, about the vast resources of U.S. National Parks.
The Centennial Initiative has yet to kick off in earnest, but 2015 will be a year of preparation in advance of the 100th birthday year, which happens to be an election year, too.
Since you can expect 2016 to feature a lot of hype about the parks and many photo opportunities for politicos to kiss babies on the National Mall, 2015 will shape up to be the sweet spot for visiting the parks – the calm before the centennial-year crowds.
If you’re looking to get your parks on in 2015, have a think about visiting some of the following parks that have all been around for 100+ years themselves:
- Crater Lake, Glacier, Haleakala, HI Volcanoes, Lassen (1915 go boom) Mt Rainier, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia, Wind Cave, Yellowstone, Yosemite
Strap a GoPro to your quadcopter drone for travel video footage that’s thrilling and unique.
4) Making Stuff: The New Manufacturing
Like a Mentos-and-Coke fountain erupting at a Maker Faire, the maker movement is exploding in popularity and spreading, with 131 Maker Faires held in 2014, including in Tokyo, Johannesburg and Austin.
With a DIY work ethic and focus on re-use of varied raw building materials, the maker movement has established itself at the juncture of art and manufacturing and increasingly, technology and commerce.
Tracing its roots back to the mid-2000s, when more affordable manufacturing equipment hit the market, the maker movement solidified itself around the premieres of Make Magazine (2005) and Maker Faire (2006).
The mass media noticed in 2014, with articles on ways making could aid in education, manufacturing and reducing the electronic waste footprint.
Part of the appeal of the movement may be a reaction to the go-go globalization of the 2000s, when short shelf-live consumer goods flooded shelves at Target and Walmart.
Others factors for this 21st Century American manufacturing renaissance include the emergence of affordable 3-D printers and the growth of online marketplaces like Etsy that provide makers direct-to-consumer sales channels.
Making has a great advocate in the White House, where “science geek” / President Barack Obama started hosting its own annual Maker Faire at the White House last year. (Cool project to share in 2015? Sign up here!)
With Maker Faires leading the way in showcasing the movement’s potential, the DIY renaissance is creating some great opportunities for travelers, and travel writers.
Now is the time to check out vibrant maker centers like Oakland, Los Angeles and Detroit, as they are rapidly expanding their footprints in the making world, and making themselves more attractive destinations for artists, entrepreneurs and curious onlookers.
If left unchecked, changes in weather patterns and rising temperatures pose serious threats around the world.
5) Changing Climates, Challenging Weather
Ten years ago, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared ashore in Louisiana and the U.S. Gulf Coast, a one-two punch of Category 5 reality that underscored the real risks of rising tides.
Global warming or grand coincidence, there’s no denying the rash of tumultuous weather systems that have been wreaking havoc on travel destinations since the start of the 21st Century.
Any lingering doubts about this historical meteorological shift should have been blown away by the winds from Hurricane Sandy that blistered New York City in 2012.
Think about it: a hurricane hit New York City. The subways flooded. The Jersey shore got demolished. Storm surges covered Liberty Island. 285 people died.
And yet with an election to cover, the news cycle quickly spun away.
Audiences and the media may be hardening to weather calamities, but for the travel industry unpredictable weather is a major variable.
The roster of places hit this century by significant storms includes Cancun, Myanmar, Cabo San Lucas, Texas and Florida. Not to mention two devastating Asian earthquakes and tsunamis.
Couple this increase in storms with other climate-related events like the current California drought, and travel destinations have plenty to think about in terms of preparedness and contingency plans in 2015 and beyond.