At World Aviation Festival, Accenture’s Global Travel Industry Sector Lead, Emily Weiss, and Global Travel Industry Sustainability Lead, Jesko Neuenburg gave a summary of shifting passenger demands, the growing prominence of personalisation, and the challenges around adoption of sustainable travel offerings.
During the interview, Neuenburg noted the “say-do” gap with sustainable travel where willingness to pay is restricted despite intentions to the contrary. He explained:
87 per cent of travellers have said they’ve increased sustainable travel bookings over the last year, but of course there is this say-do gap. When it comes to paying for it, typically the willingness to pay is relatively limited. It works very well where there isn’t much of a price differential, like Uber Green, which comes at no extra cost. That has been phenomenally successful in a sense. For some of the things that are quite expensive, such as take up of SAF in aviation for example, it’s a much harder sell to convince customers. But also, I think in the corporate market, we’re seeing some good traction with corporates coming on board with corporate staff programs and so, there is also kind of positive stories there to be had.”
The conversation also looked at how passenger expectations are shifting closer to “demands” and the most common trends identified by Accenture. Additionally, the key sources of friction and frustration for passengers and how these can be resolved.
Watch the full interview below.
Questions asked include:
- How have traveller expectations changed in the past 4-5 years?
- How are travel companies responding to these evolving expectations?
- What are travellers’ chief sources of friction and frustration, and what they want to see most in the way of improvements?
- In this evolving consumer landscape, there is also a greater momentum in sustainability in travel. What are the steps the industry can take to help accelerate the adoption of sustainable travel offerings?
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For more from onsite at World Aviation Festival 2024 see:
- The “simple strategy” behind Ryanair’s marketing success
- Riyadh Air: Delivering a modern retailing experience
- Forbes, the Godfathers of AI, and multi-billion dollar airport modernisation
