Budget accommodation options impacting traditional companies
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Alternative forms of accommodation such as hostels and peer-to-peer (P2P) options are impacting traditional travel companies, according to WTM’s two new reports.
A fifth of travel companies have been affected by the growth of peer-to-peer travel (P2P) with one in 10 now using sharing sites for travel.
The latest Industry Report released by World Travel Market last week showed that 59% of businesses felt P2P had a ‘slightly negative impact’ while 19% had felt a significant negative shift.
The pressure is set to intensify too as around 86% of UK holidaymakers that had used the sites said they would be likely to again.
WTM’s Global Trends Report with Euromonitor International also named P2P as one of the major disruptors for the sector in the next three years.
The report highlighted the popularity of ‘poshtels’ among UK travellers as hostel brands update and modernise their offering to cater to an increasing amount of business and leisure travellers. The hostels segment is expected to grow 3% from 2013 to 2018 eventually reaching sales of £216 million by 2018.
However hostels are likely to choose alternative distribution models and are becoming increasingly competitive in service and price.
The report continued to discuss a growing trend for European travellers to look for opportunities to eat with locals while away, driven by the success of P2P travel.
But the report also pushed that the travel industry has an opportunity to grab the market of in-destination services in the next five years, especially with the on-going surge in mobile use to look and book for extras. Mobile booking generally is expected to reach 35% of all bookings by 2018. Global online travel sales reached US$590 billion last year, making up 27% of sales.
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