Strong growth for world outbound travel despite natural disasters and terror attacks, an ongoing shift to ‘safe’ destinations, and controversial protests against ‘overtourism’ in various destinations.

These top travel trends and issues of 2017 were the major topics at the 25th World Travel Monitor® Forum in Pisa on November 9-10, 2017, an exclusive industry meeting initiated at the invitation of consultancy IPK International and supported by ITB Berlin.

The global travel industry again set new records over the first eight months of 2017, IPK‘s World Travel Monitor® found. These are the key percentage growth figures for outbound trips, by region and by holiday type (selection):

Source: World Travel Monitor®, IPK International, 2017

However, worried about possible terror threats, a high 41% of international travellers might change their travel plans for 2018, with 33% considering shifting to an alternative destination they see as safer, according to World Travel Monitor® figures. But the real risk on an international trip is from crime or health problems, a speaker explained at the Pisa forum.

So-called ‘overtourism’ has become a major problem not just in various high-profile cities but also on other kinds of trips, including winter sport holidays and cruises.

Nearly 1 international trip in 10 was affected by overcrowding this year, the World Travel Monitor® found. The international travel and tourism industry needs to find solutions to better manage visitor numbers without restricting growth, experts agreed at the Pisa forum.

In future, one new international growth market could be “Muslim millennials” who are expected to travel in much greater numbers over the coming decade. A ‘seismic transformation’ is under way in the luxury hospitality business where customer demands are changing dramatically. And digital assistants and robots could change the look and sound of the travel industry in years to come.

Read the full report here.