Tourists of the Future

Abstract

Today, more and more people are travelling than ever before, with 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals recorded in 2019 and the forecasted 1.8 billion international arrivals set to be reached well before its predicted 2030 (UNWTO, 2019; 2020). Traditionally, the wealthier industrialised world has predominately been responsible for both the supply and demand of tourism. However, in recent years a gradual shift has occurred with new destinations beginning to challenge these traditional destinations. There is the expectation that 57% of all international tourist arrivals will be in emerging destinations by 2030 (UNWTO, 2017). The rise of the middle class has resulted in more of the world’s population gaining access to leisure time and the means to increased international travel. Travel experiences in the past have typically consisted of sun, sand and surf type holidays. Tourists are no longer content with these passive activities, rather seeking more experiential and engaging travel experiences instead. This suggests a change in demand from the mass tourism holidays of the 1970s and 1980s to more individualised tourist experiences (Sharpley, 2005). Drivers of change contributing to these changes in travel demand include increased globalisation along with a variety of economic, social, political, technological and environmental trends (Dwyer et al., 2008). Chapter 2 discusses the key drivers of change, along with several trends considered to have an impact on the future development of the international tourism industry. This chapter explores some of these trends further in the context of future tourist behaviour, namely smart tourism, virtual tourism, smart boredom, super sabbaticals and solo travellers.

Identification and Ranking of Value Creation Indicators in Health Tourism in Iran (by a mixed exploratory approach)

“…However, Iran's share in the growth of health tourism is very low compared to neighboring countries such as Turkey. According to the health tourism report in 2019, Iran ranks 46th among health tourism destinations, while the neighboring country of Turkey ranks 30th (10).…”