Gazing into my "crystal ball" - okay, it's a laptop screen - I see the following five trends for travel in 2013. Most reflect an expansion of developments from this year and last. Yes, the past is prologue, as William Shakespeare wrote. Make no mistake: These trends will shape, for better and for worse, your travel experiences in the coming year.
1. More work for the airline passenger: Welcome to the era of DIY airports. Forget luggage porters. WestJet, Iberia Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Qantas are now all experimenting with check-your-own baggage schemes. The passenger arrives at the airport and then is expected to print his or her own baggage tags, attach them and drop them off in the right area.
No word yet on whether this has increased or decreased the number of lost bags - it's too early for that. But some passengers report feeling a sense of security from being able to double-check the baggage tags before their stuff disappears down the belt.
Others are undoubtedly aggrieved at the extra work.
And airline workers are, not surprisingly, worried about layoffs due to these cost-saving measures.
They should be, as these new protocols are just the beginning. The International Air Transport Association has announced a "Fast Travel" initiative, which gives more and more tasks to the passenger. Along with checking their own bags, passengers may, in the future, process their own identifying documents as they make their way to security, board flights by scanning their own tickets at the gate, rebook themselves when delays and cancellations occur (at special kiosks that will spit out new tickets) and electronically report bags that go astray.
My cynical fear about these developments? That the airlines will add fees for those who need help along the way, whether it be tagging their own bags or tracking lost luggage. We'll see.
2. An increase in diversions beyond the security gate: And after the passenger has toiled as security agent, luggage porter and more, she'll be rewarded with better restaurants, chi-chi shops and entertaining options past the security gate, like spas, swimming pools, movie theatres and more. As anyone who's recently spent time at the airport knows - particularly at airports in Asia and Europe - they've become far more enjoyable places in which to kill time. It makes sense: with passengers having to arrive earlier, due to security regulations, there are more opportunities to leach a captive audience of its cash, and all sorts of entrepreneurs have jumped into the breach. Expect even more bells, whistles and celebrity chef-helmed restaurants in 2013 airports.
3. Drip Pricing: That's the piquant term for "nickel and diming" customers, a trend that seems to be expanding exponentially from year to year. Just when you think they can't come up with another new fee, someone in the travel industry gets creative.
Some examples of recent gouges from the world of cruising: additional-cost entrees in the dining rooms of Celebrity and Royal Caribbean ships (these additional price meals used to be confined to ships' "specialty restaurants"); and fees to board the ship earlier, get your luggage delivered to your stateroom in a timely fashion and have first dibs on reservations in the ship's specialty restaurants.
Frontier Airlines, in the United States, announced that it would add extra $50 fees for those who needed to change a ticket and hadn't made their initial reservation on the airline's website; and Spirit Airlines is now charging a whopping $100 for carry-on bags brought into the airline cabin without advance payment online.
4.Quirky adventures supplementing sightseeing: In just the past year, a slew of websites have popped up aggregating small, informal and often very unique "tour" options in destinations around the world. I say "tour" gingerly, because these experiences often involve activities that are far different from the standard tour, from learning to make hummus in a local's kitchen in Jerusalem to going to a private cocktail party on a rooftop in Barcelona to an outdoor workout climbing the public stairs and hills of San Francisco. The companies offering these unusual experiences (and others) include Vayable.com, Gidsy.com and Canaryhop.com.
5. Shopping, shopping and more shopping: At the recent World Travel Mart conference, a major study cited the importance of shopping as a spur to travel as the biggest theme. It seems that hotels located in the megamalls of the Middle East (in Dubai, in particular) are booming, leading to the creation of even more mall lodgings throughout that region and possibly in Asia. Plus, the lure of luxury goods is expected to send millions of new travelers - from Russia, India, Brazil and China, primarily - to the great cities of Europe next.
Pauline Frommer is the creator of the award-winning Pauline Frommer's Travel Guides series. Find your copies of Frommer guides at starstore.ca. © 2012 by Pauline Frommer
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