2013 was the year of creeping optimism for economic recovery in Ireland, and it was reflected in our travel bookings. Expedia.ie figures show that people are committed to continuing to travel whether that’s at home or in more exotic destinations. Expedia.ie’s annual travel review reports that domestic travel was on the rise, with a booking increase of 148% since 2012 and we also got adventurous with travel once again, with far flung trips to Thailand, rising by 112%.
It was also the year of technological advance in travel for the Irish. According to the Expedia and Egencia Future of Travel Report, the growth of smartphone usage amongst Irish millennials is particularly strong, with over half using smartphones (56%) for personal or business reasons, compared to just 40% amongst the over 35s It’s clear that technology will continue to shape Irish travel habits in 2014, with mobile devices becoming an ever-increasing part of our travel planning and bookings.
However 2014 is set to be the year of sports-centric travel in Ireland. The Giro D’Italia is coming to Ireland, which is set to increase domestic holiday bookings. Although it’s still early for bookings, in the last three months alone, Expedia.ie has experienced approximately five times as many travel searches for Belfast for the week of Giro d’Italia, compared to the last quarter of 2013, while searches for Dublin have doubled compared to the same period last year.
World Cup travel fever has also set in and Irish travel searches for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil have increased by 2,897%* this summer, despite the fact that our team won’t qualify! This figure is over double the increase in bookings among the Brits (1,095%) and significantly more than the Italians (889%).
Andy Washington, Expedia.ie says: “Sports fans always travel in large numbers to support their teams, however I think everyone senses that 2014 will be an extra special year for sport, with the Giro D’Italia, World Cup and the Commonwealth Games all to look forward to. So it’s great to see Irish fans planning ahead to get the best deals on their sports-centric travel bookings.”
In addition to sport, Expedia.ie notes other trends that will also impact travel patterns in 2014:
Travel recommendations will get smarter without creeping you out. Rather than offering you deals on destinations you recently booked or destinations or hotels your friends have booked, travel sites like Expedia will use the mass of data from bookings made on their sites to detect patterns which can help you save money and take the stress and uncertainty out of travel booking. Data will be used to provide helpful contextual information like average prices or suggesting a stopover or alternative flight times to save money and give you the reassurance you need.
“Travel is a very unique type of purchase in that our customers book with us in often very different circumstances: on one occasion I may be looking for a family holiday, on another I’m looking for a business trip or visiting friends and my needs and priorities will be very different each time. So giving me recommendations based on my social network or my last purchase isn’t as helpful as giving me advice based on people with similar needs,” commented Andy Washington, Managing Director of Expedia.ie
Picture-driven travel. More than 55 million photos are shared on Instagram every day alone and photos shared on social networks are increasingly influential in inspiring travel. The growing popularity of image sharing will mean travel planning will become an increasingly visual activity, and travel planning tools themselves will become more visual experiences.
The “airport of the future” is here. Or nearly here. Airports like Dubai have already become important commercial hubs, with excellent shopping facilities and meeting areas. Over the next year, advances in technology will further improve the actual travel experience at airports. SITA predicts that by 2015, 90% of airlines will offer mobile check in. 2D boarding passes, contactless technology and other mobile passenger benefits are closer to reality than ever before. With new technologies such as terminal maps and flight status alerts on the Irish
Expedia app, air travel is already becoming more streamlined and personalized and this will further improve in 2014.
If you’d like to take a sports-centric holiday in 2014, or book a trip to Rio for the World Cup, Expedia.ie has a wealth of sports-centric holiday options which can be tailored to your desired trip. Check out www.expedia.ie for more information. 
