Tripadvisor’s Scott Wegener Shares the Future of Meaningful Travel

Scott Wegener, Head of Asia Pacific at Tripadvisor shares 4 key takeaways for Travel Advisors to sort out the altering travel trends. He shared these whereas addressing the viewers throughout the opening keynote at ITB India 2025.

1)  Curate: Firstly, curate, do not simply provide, construct journey packages rooted in storytelling, native engagement and wellness.

2) Design choices for the youthful, rising center class, not just for the extra aged city elites.

Gen Z and millennials are the quickest rising middle-class section pushed by urbanisation, greater training and suppose digital roots and digital connectivity, they are going to represent 60% of South Asia’s journey spend.

3) Partner along with your native communities. Invest in genuine, sustainable and moral journey.
It is tremendous vital on this world of AI , the place one is making an attempt to work out what’s genuine and what’s not genuine.

4) Leverage, User Generated Content Leverage, actual journey tales. Encourage it in your companies, as a result of it will assist carry your vacation spot or what you are promoting to life.

Those who transfer past standard tourism to ship genuinely significant experiences is not going to solely seize the hearts, minds and wallets of South Asia travellers, however you are additionally going to assist form the future of world journey itself.

Sharing a pair of examples of the place these developments are already being put into motion by sure organisations and companies, he additional said

The first one is Hong Kong Tourism Board, who’ve not too long ago launched their ‘Tourism is Everywhere’ marketing campaign that showcases city-wide dwelling tradition and folks first exploration past simply the well-known landmarks, which is strictly what that nano neighborhoods pattern stands for.

For instance, the Uttar Pradesh authorities in India has carried out QR audio portals at 100 plus points of interest. So once more, you are not simply going to the attraction and taking a look. They’ve acquired these portals there that help you have an immersive, enabled journey by means of the wealthy historical past, tradition and pure magnificence of that attraction that you simply’re visiting.

There’s a set of properties referred to as the Sharjah Collection in the UAE that is simply launched a brand new property referred to as ‘Nomad’. It’s an off-grid trailer expertise in the mountain valleys of Cal bar that emphasizes digital detox and nature immersion.

Grocery retailer tourism is being built-in into tour operator and resort choices proper now, it is seen as each a cultural journey and an genuine technique to expertise day by day life in the metropolis that you simply’re in, additionally experiencing the native flavours, the snacks, the completely different elements, and experiencing the culinary habits in a metropolis that you’re not aware of. It’s a good way to study extra about the meals tradition in a metropolis. I used to be in Tokyo not too long ago, and I noticed it throughout me, individuals vacationers that have been going into the seven elevens, the meals parks and shopping for up on snacks and numerous issues. You’ve acquired to watch out about what you may take again to the nation. I perceive, however nonetheless, it’s totally, highly regarded.
He left the viewers with a quote from the late Anthony Bourdain that he wrote again in 2007 “Travel is not all the time fairly, it is not all the time comfy. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your coronary heart. But that is okay.

The Journey adjustments you. It ought to change you. It leaves marks in your reminiscence, in your consciousness, in your coronary heart and in your physique. If you’re taking one thing with you, hopefully you allow one thing good behind. I believe this completely sums up the motion in journey that is taking place proper now.”