Baby Boomers continue to hold a strong grip on the luxury travel market, spending more than $2 trillion each year, according to research company Mintel.

They are increasingly interested in healthcare and wellbeing with breaks that produce measurable results, as seen at The Ranch in Malibu, a results orientated luxury boot camp that helps guests achieve fitness,nutritional, weight-loss and detox goals.

Boomer Luxurians appreciate ‘slowtopia’ travel: glamorous, languorous journeys, such as the nine-day trip on The Deccan Odyssey, a train in India that features a spa, fine dining, libraries, lounge cars and butlers.

Reaching their twilight years, Baby Boomer Luxurians are less interested in material goods, and prefer to spend on experiential goods. ‘If you’re 50 years old, you’re looking at having 30 years left,’ says Pam Danziger, founder of luxury marketing company Unity Marketing. ‘Boomers are thinking, ‘What do I want to do?’
For them, the answer isn’t buying a diamond ring, it’s buying an experience.

Great 2 Min Video on relevant Consumer Trends for 2012.  How might these effect the Travel Industry?
My thoughts…

• Need to “Escape” from todays pressures= travel without hassel. Well organized immersive small group tours & well planned FIT

• Global Connection: “We vs Me”, looking to connect, give back, become a global citizen. Experiential International Travel, Community Based Tourism, Travelers Philanthropy & Voluntourism

• Green Movement & Importance of Food: Growth of Culinary, Organic & Farm Tourism

• Women having more choices and changing priorities. Women increasingly choosing travel.

• Reintroducing Randomness and personal discovery: authentic travel, investing in “Experiences”

• Digital Content and Interaction: travel content (images, stories, videos) will continue to be valuable allowing experiences to take place before and after travel, as well as for those who are not traveling.

• Positive Aging: Boomers and Beyond will become and acceptable face of experiential travel
  

• Desire for real engagement/objects: Going there, meeting people, tasting foods, hiking trails “real vs virtual” travel.

Several years ago I was in Africa for work and decided to climb Kilimanjaro before returning home. I have a small walking/hiking tour company and though I don’t offer Killi many of the guests who have trekked with me in Peru and Patagonia asked what I thought about the trek, what route I would recommend and if I thought they could do it.

A friend/tour operator of mine offered to assist and thus I arrive in Moshi having done only minimal research on the route and none on the ground operator. I’ll leave off the specifics, as it isn’t really relevant. Suffice to say they had a word in their name that involved eco/green/responsible/sustainable…the terms that consumers think should mean something but aren’t exactly sure what that is.

Around the second day into the trek I asked the guide “so, your company name is X-green company, what do you actually do to support Green, Eco, Responsible, Sustainable Travel?”  He looked at me as if no one had ever asked the question…clearly they hadn’t asked him….and replied “well, we pick up garbage along the trail”. Humm, Ok, well, I guess that is a commitment….but it wasn’t.  As far as I could see over the next several days neither the guide nor porters picked up any excess trash though they did remove the trash we made.

When I returned to Moshi having successfully summited Kilimanjaro I spent a day with the owner and had an extensive conversation about the trek.  I asked him what the vision for his company was, how he was sharing this vision with both his staff and his guests, and how he might be able to both monitor and execute his vision which did involve the words he choose in his company name.

What I’ve learned over the past few years is that companies and travelers need to understand what eco/green/sustainable/responsible means to them and then explore what piece of this they are personally most passionate about. This might be employing local guides, using regional food and recipes, focusing on green building techniques, protecting endangered species or minority groups, or any of dozens of other initiatives which fall within the umbrella of green travel.  They then need to consistently integrate this into their brand message —online (through their website, social media, confirmation documents etc) and offline (through their guides, office staff, partners and guests and ultimately through the experiences offered).

It is no longer a question of “what do our customers care about in terms of green travel?” (because we will write that in our marketing materials),  the new question is “what do you care about? What are you passionate about in regards to green travel? What inspires you?”. If you are unsure, work with your team, and possibly a coach or advisor, to figure out what vision you can all buy into and support.

Customers like to engage with companies (and people) who are passionate about something…it doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly what they themselves are passionate about.

So….here are a few questions, think about them in relation to Green, Eco, Responsible, Sustainable Travel

• What’s inspires you? Your staff? The community around you?
• What commitment do you make that inspiration? Is it measurable?
• How do you share your commitment?
• How does it fit into your “brand”
• How does this contribute to sustainable, responsible development?
• Is this inspiration integrated throughout the experience? Does it need to be?
• How do you know share this with guest and partners? Do you need to?
• How do you know if you have been successful?
• What would success look like?
• How to involved your guests, staff , communities and partners  in “live audits”

I have two friends heading to Madrid this week (their first trip).  My experiences in this fantastic city are a bit dated so I reached out to my friends on Facebook with this question…

“Madrid recommendations, anyone? anyone? I can’t believe this well traveled group has nothing to say about eating or drinking in Madrid ”

Here’s what I received back….thought it was worth publishing and updating this list

• El Botin…Hemingway’s favorite,…suckling pig inside the old fireplace  There is a great little place in the Plaza Mayor – one of the oldest restaurants in town. Maria Elena Price

• Even better than the expensive Botin is “En Busca del Tiempo” which is a little bar/restaurant that has amazing tablas and wine. Look it up on google maps. Very much a locals favorite. Mary Camacho
  

• Madrid is great – just do a little detective work, and you can’t go wrong, plenty of great food and cheap vino. Chueca for non-tourist shopping and eats. We went to a great little Peruvian restaurant. Madrid is like NYC – made up of neighborhoods, each with very different personality, so try to explore as many as you can, not just the Plaza Mayor tourist area, which is also fun. Julie Conover
  

• La Bola Restaurant, very famous in madrid then Fuencarral and Chueca place is perfect for drinking and shooping. And do you remenber La Vera is very near to Madrid 2 hours for any thing! Luis Yanes

• Foodies Guide To Madrid << a friend of mine designed this itinerary. HEAVEN. Andrew Hayes

• Kathy, you have to visit the ‘Museo del Jamon‘, just off Plaza Puerta del Sol. It’s a local’s cafe and everyone takes a paper napkin with their sandwich and then throws it on the floor with great aplomb! Not a designated tourist attraction but one I would recommend for a laugh! Stevie Christie

• Museum of Ham! (Museo del Jamon, Carrera de San Jeronimo 6) In reality a cool bar where office workers congregate to chill out before going home. Charles Rhind

…and by Direct Message I received these recommendations

La finca de susana,
Arlaban 4, Madrid 28014
Tel: 91 369 35 57

Public Restaurant
Desengano 11, Madrid 28004
(Pres de Pl del Callao)

Ginger
Plaza del Angel 12
28012 Madrid
Tel:91 369 10 59
(Near plaza del sol)

La Gloria de Montera
Caballero de Gracia 10
28013 Madrid
Tel: 91 523 44 07

The most daunting trade route in the world, passing through the mightiest mountain range on Earth, the Ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Road linked the fertile emerald teas of Yunnan and Sichuan to the arid landscapes of the Tibetan Plateau, serving as a vital route for isolated tribes who referred to it as the “Eternal Road.” Remaining a virtual mystery to the West for over a millennium, the Road, its history and cultures are now at long last revealed in all of its stunning diversity.

I joined Jeff Fuchs,  the first westerner to have ever traveled the entire 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) route, on a trip to Yunnan retracing portions of the Road, sampling teas at their origin and studying the road’s impact on ethnic minority villagers, on Wild China’s shorter journey which allowed me to experience the trail:  Retracing the Ancient Tea & Horse Caravan Trail: Yunnan

Photos of our Journey:

Southwest China Adventure

Exploring remote villages and trail of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces (07.11.2010, 139 Photos)

Living in Boulder, being somewhat part of the tech community, I sometimes assume the rest of the world has things like facebook’s privacy policies (or lack their of) on their radar and has a strong opinion of Zuckerberg and his escapades.

The reality is I bet my mom doesn’t.  Nor do most Boomers who Love Facebook….and Apple

Somewhere in the past year two companies have caught the attention, love, and devotion of the boomer market. Facebook and Apple, and they couldn’t be further apart.

Walk into any apple store on a wednesday morning at 8am (pre-opening), or rather ANY morning and you’ll find the store packed with folks you might not expect. There are no 20 something gen Y other than a few employees. Most of the folks are over 50, or really, over 60. They have their macbook pro and are intently listening and taking notes from a genius instructor helping them create a video of their recent safari to Tanzania or understand how to share their photo album from their recent family reunion with their relatives and friends. They are setting up a blog, creating a book club newsletter or a personal website via iweb.

No one talks about this, certainly not Apple. Why? Well, boomers are the most lucrative audience out there. They are buy EVERYTHING at full price that their “coaches” tell them. They are purchasing ipads, upgrading iphones, paying for these one to one classes, buying the best cases and larger screens. They LOVE Apple. But boomers aren’t really that cool. Apple (run by a boomer) is likely not so interested in showing graying boomers and “seniors” (I dislike that term) as their target market.  Personally I think they should.

And then we have FACEBOOK. You’d have to be living under a rock not to know that the age 50+ audience, and women in particular, are the fastest growing market on Facebook.. They are still figuring it out but they are engaging like never before in finding friends, “liking”, building farms, and sometimes even posting photos and commenting. Think of Facebook as the AOL of the 90′s. Once these folks are on they are not leaving. They are just beginning to feel comfortable and understand facebook.

So, that’s the problem. Boomers see Facebook and Apple as their new friends. However Apple and Facebook are no friends. They approach their consumer completely differently. Apple is all about curation and protecting the user experience and thus the user. That’s why boomers and particularly women, love Apple vs PC. It doesn’t break, it doesn’t get viruses, the user experience is just, well, nice. Facebook on the other hand is not nice. It is complicated and it is tricky. It changes important privacy policies, features and functions, constantly. If is confusing for any user, particularly those not so tech savvy.

Assuming that “privacy” is inherit across products and services boomers “like” and trust is dangerous.
Facebook is NOT Apple

Facebook’s new “like” buttons are appearing all over the web. It’s beyond Social, this is game changing.

Possibly between the Iceland’s Volcano and the Kentucky Derby you missed the significance. Here’s a quick summary on why this is a really, really big deal.

According to Facebook,  “Share ” buttons are being replaced with “Like” buttons (we’ve already added them to all of TravelDragon‘s 6000+ trips). “Facebook Connect” is going away (being replaced by the Facebook Platform). Activity feeds for other users and recommendation engines are part of the new toolkit. 50,000 websites have added the Like button and/or other social plugins since they first launched last week.

For the Travel Industry and all businesses this makes it much easier for potential consumers to share what they like on your site with friends, in real time.  The consumers no longer needs to move between content and facebook and are likely unaware of how this information is being tracked. WOW. Think about people cruising around on your site, seeing cool tours, reading reviews  from past guests, checking out your latest travel video. “like” “like” “like”! What the consumer might not know is that you’ll now have access to publish directly on their newsfeeds in the future.  Take for example a reader who “likes” your new  tour Gastronomic Catalonia and you can’t wait to start sharing all your Adventure/Culinary and Wine travel opportunities with them.

If “Like”= Approval Rating think about it, TripAdvisor might have some competition.  It’s about time.

How cool, you can now  find out what your friends like without needing to visit facebook.
But wait.  Are your “friends” really your friends?

“Facebook is building the Social Graph, a vast network of connections between people and the things they like”. What does it all mean to the end user? There are a lot of people very concerned  privacy issues are only part of that concern. “Instant Personalization” service are undeniably good for business owners and advertisers but for us as consumers? You’ll be telling the world the things you like, even when you’re not on Facebook.

I’d love your feedback from a consumer as well as a travel industry professional.

Kathy Dragon – Traveler, Chief Curator
TravelDragon & The Dragon’s Path

Featured Experience on TravelDragon Aconcagua Ameghino Valley Upper Guanacos Traverse with porters (Argentina)

Social Media, Technology and Transparency

My friend Everett Potter asked for a few predictions for 2010. Have a look at his post and what other industry folks think is ahead.

Kathy’s Travel Industry Predictions for 2010

Customer-centric: the customer will become the sales force, product developers, service centers and resolution managers for companies. Those companies who offer creative tools to enable this will see success. This will occur both online and offline.

Social Media: will be a game changer. Tour providers will invest in developing and implementing social media strategies. Those who embrace, interact, listen and share will see significant changes in customer retention, referral bookings, and resolution/customer satisfaction. Facebook will lead the consumer interaction, twitter will lead the pr, mobile devices will lead content sharing. Get Satisfaction and Trip Advsior will continue to navigate reviews and resolution.

Curators will Rule: too much noise, too much information, and too many people talking become increasingly overwhelming. In order to make decisions people will rely on people/sites they trust in the travel space (and in all decision making). Blogs, travel bloggers, twitter leaders and niche vertical sites will gain exposure and influence as they turn down the volume.

Technology will Enable: Live content, original, interesting, authentic content, interactive maps, new mobile apps, and rich media will be king.

The Sandbox will be broken: new technology and innovation will break the old sandbox where companies that do business in a certain way are thought of as leaders. Authentic, agile, innovative individuals will trump large companies and years in business.

Specialization vs Expansion: Niche Tour Operators will gain exposure and success. Consumers will be looking and able to find smaller companies who offer exactly what they are looking for.

Distribution: Niche Tour providers will increasingly distributed their products and content across new platforms and to new sites. The egocentric silos of personal websites and brochures will become only part of the real-estate content and data live on. There will be a consistent data structure and understanding of API and data feeds.

Collaboration vs Exclusivity: success will come through working together between multiple entities travelers, tour operators, destination management companies, tourism boards.

Transparency vs Selective Sharing: Information, links and reviews of hotels, routes, guides, restaurants will all be open. Consumers will know who is actually operating tours and what levels/values are involved. The line between incoming tour operators and outgoing will continue to blur.

Experiences will Drive Itineraries: Travelers will continue to search out authentic experience, unique/boutique accommodations, passionate personalities and cutting-edge destinations for new stories they can re-tell  for a lifetime.  Destinations will blur, people and community will become more memorable as we search out quality off-line engagement.