Top Tourism trends 2022 and Challenges ahead

The NEST (Tourism Innovation Center) held on May 25, in partnership with SKIFT and Google, the webinar What´s Trending? Tourism Trends 2022.

In this virtual meeting, the speakers talked about the tourism sector and presented the main tourist trends in Europe, but also what smart strategies can be adapted so that tourism evolves and follows everything that has happened in the world.

In concrete terms, SKIFT explained the reasons for the trends (based on reports, data and insights obtained by its analysts) and Google presented the evolution of searches in Portugal as a destination.

Other tools were presented, very useful for Portuguese companies, such as Infusões com História.

Get to know the role of NEST, what relevant information was highlighted in this conversation and how all this is related to the paradigm shift of our brand.

What is the role of NEST (Tourism Innovation Center)?

“Founded on February 18th of 2019, the founding members comprise 8 entities, Turismo de Portugal, ANA Airports, Brisa Via Verde, Google, Microsoft, Millennium BCP, NOS and BPI.

We are a private non-profit association, with corporate bodies already elected General Assembly, Fiscal Council and Board. The Association also integrates two advisory bodies: the Advisory Council and the Sectorial Council and an Executive Director”.

Want to know the purpose of NEST? Click here to learn more.

Key information said in this webinar

Many changes are happening and the digitization of companies, especially during and after the pandemic period, has become almost mandatory.

The tourism sector (in Portugal and Europe) is recovering and taking important steps towards a recovery.

In a piece of news shared on the TSF website, published on May 15, 2022, the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, was quoted and highlighted that “the reopening of external tourism contributes to the projection of a growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). ) of Portugal this year of 5.8%, the highest in the European Union”.

Therefore, a SKIFT (company that provides market research and marketing services to the travel industry) provided in this webinar a lot of valuable information.

The main topics discussed were:

Uncertainty as the new certainty (covid impact remains unpredictable, unstable (geo)political climate and uneven travel recovery).

Some questions were raised as factors that can influence world tourism, such as new covid variants, Ukraine war, extreme inflation, migrant crisis, rising costs of living, brexing or climate change.

Wouter Geerts (SKIFT representative speaker) presented several scenarios and graphs that demonstrated the new trends and answered in a certain way the question “How does the travel industry move forward in an uncertain world?

So how can digitization help address these challenges?

Wouter Geerts showed several opportunities such as the bet on digital platforms, as is the case of Hopper, which study the circumstances and present benefits (Hopper app is a prediction algorithm that processes trillions of data points, allowing us to make precise and personalized travel recommendations) or other opportunities:

• Becoming and Inspiration platform (communicate digitally to ensure that the future customer trusts the brand).
• Socialization of Business Travel (offering new services and products for entrepreneurs and business travelers).
• Become leaders in tech adoption (ensure that services or products are easily connected to the digital world, especially the ease of the purchase process and additional information).
• Demonstrate with concrete actions that the company has, in fact, a sustainability plan.
• Embrace environmental transparency now (present reports, certificates and concrete actions that demonstrate good ecological practices.

António Neves, industry manager for the travel sector at Google, presented later some data on tourism trends in Portugal and responded to topics such as:

• Travel demand to Portugal;
• Regions that people are interested in;
• Comparison between Portugal and other destinations.

This information becomes relevant and complements everything Wouter Geerts highlighted throughout the webinar.

In this way, by discovering what people are looking for, where they are going or how Portugal becomes an attractive destination, we can stipulate new business paths and adapt products internally, but also for those who visit us.

The 100% Biological Infusions, from Infusões com História, represent a region, deliver unique flavors, and enhance gastronomic experiences.

Over time, the brand has adapted its niche, communication and today follows market trends.

Find out now how Infusions with History takes advantage of the opportunities listed by the SKIFT specialist.

Does Infusões com História follow market trends?

Yes, our brand follows trends and keeps up with the news (as was the case with this webinar).

Daily, we seek to make our premium products increasingly international and representative of our country.

All the opportunities listed by Wouter Geerts are present in our actions, in addition to having a well-defined sustainability plan (read this article and learn about all the points of our sustainability plan).

Our communication has changed over the last year and today we are more transparent, demanding, and informative.

We were able to effectively demonstrate that we are an ecological brand, where identity, innovation and creativity are strong values.

We adapted our strategy in the face of adversity and today we have a global product that fits what tourists are looking for and what partners want to work on.

The bet on concepts such as the TEA Experience (TEA – Tea, Eat, Act), “Infusions for Eat” (recipes where infusions harmonize certain dishes or plants are used as ingredients) or “Infusions that Speak” (podcast where we expose opinions, conversations, and relevant information about the world of Teas, Infusions and Herbs), is in line with what the market is looking for and the needs we find.

Another example is the bet on the Premium concept – Infusion Pairing.

Since tourism is a very important sector for the Portuguese GDP, haute cuisine (Michelin-star restaurants, 5-star hotels or renowned restaurants) plays a leading role in the activity.

We currently have numerous partnerships with restaurants and hotels, and we recently launched the concept of individual tea bags made of recycled paper, so that hotel customers can prepare a unique drink that will perfume their room or improve the dishes that comes with it.

If tourists are looking for the flavors and aromas of our country, how could we be left out and not present our exclusive blends? Furthermore, since Infusões com História is a sustainable, transparent, and respectful brand of Portuguese Traditions and Culture?

Therefore, we consider that we are on the right path and in constant adaptation.

Only in this way can we grow, offer the best products, and overcome the competition.