According to some stats shared by Intrepid MD James Thornton at the Travel DAZE conference this morning, 21 per cent of people would give up sex before losing WiFi access for a month, such is the age of the internet.
“When you woke up this morning, what was the first thing you touched?” Thornton asked the audience. Minds back out of the gutter and laughter aside, he revealed the answer was probably your mobile phone.
“It’s not just changing the way we book travel, it’s changing the way we actually travel,” Thornton added.
Another revelation from the same survey amongst travellers was that 31 per cent of people are actually missing sites and destinations because they’re too busy taking photos or posting on social media.
“Five years ago, the most commonly asked question on a tour was ‘where is the toilet?’. Today the most commonly asked question is ‘what’s the wifi password?’”
“The one thing that is certain is that change will happen. We have to ensure that change is for the better.
“We have to make sure people change as they travel but we have to make sure it’s done well.
“Globalisation and technology are going to continue to change things,” Thornton added. “The travel business is comprised of about 300 million people around the world.”
Thornton discussed the heavy importance of responsible tourism and how it’s a crucial aspect of the tourism industry that needs to be addressed if travel operators still want to be in business in the future.
Using the Great Barrier Reef and the coral bleaching as an example, Thornton said “this government and previous governments haven’t address the issue because they’re worried about it affecting tourism.
“But if they addressed it head on then it might change tourism but it would also make it more sustainable.”
Intrepid was also the first tour operator to ban elephant rides, with a huge following and stacks of support ensuring other operators followed, including one special tweet to Beyonce, which was retweeted 100 times.
“The critical thing is brands have to be strong, they have to be bold,” Thornton stressed. “If you’re bold, consumers will follow you and you’ll be successful. And that takes guts but I’m sure if we do, it’s going to pay off.”
