Marketing Review — Summer 2008 - (Page 15) TRENDS Societal 7 7) Societal values are changing rapidly. Industrialization raises educational levels, changes attitudes toward authority, reduces fertility, alters gender roles, and encourages broader political participation. This process is just beginning throughout the developing world. Witness the growing literacy, declining fertility, and broad voter turnout seen in India over the last decade. Developed societies increasingly take their cue from Generation X and the Millennial generation (aka Gen Y or Generation Dot-com), rather than the Baby Boomers who dominated the industrialized world’s thinking for most of four decades. Post-September 11 fear of terrorist attacks has led Americans to accept almost without comment security measures that their traditional love of privacy once would have made intolerable. ASSESSMENT: This trend will continue for at least the next two decades in the industrialized lands and two generations in the developing world. IMPLICATIONS: The growing influence of the post-BabyBoom generations will tend to homogenize basic attitudes throughout the world, because Generation Xers and especially the Millennials around the globe have more in common with each other than with their parents. The highly polarized political environment that has plagued the United States since the 1980s will slowly moderate as results-oriented Generation Xers and Millennials begin to dominate the national dialogue. As national security concerns have begun to lose their immediacy, family issues are regaining their significance in American society: long-term health care, day care, early childhood education, antidrug campaigns, and the environment. Concerns about health care, education, and the environment already are shaping the 2008 presidential campaign. Demand for greater accountability and transparency in business will be crucial for countries that wish to attract international investors. IMPLICATIONS FOR HOSPITALITY AND TRAVEL: 8 Vacations also are becoming more active and participatory, as tourists become less interested in “go-and-see” and more eager to go-and-do. This is the trend behind the growth of adventure tourism and ecology-oriented travel. The trend is toward extreme quality, and convenience. Customers want constant pampering, luxurious accommodations, and fresh meals that seem like labors of love—all at a price that will not wound the consumer’s conscience. “Authenticity” is another key value. Tourists who go to see other lands, rather than surf their beaches, want to find unique natural and cultural features that survive as close as possible to their original form. Travel experiences that remind guests of Navajo Indian blankets with “Made in China” tags will leave visitors feeling that they might as well have visited their local mall instead. 8) Privacy, once a defining right for Americans, is dying quickly. Internet communications, a basic part of life for many people, are nearly impossible to protect against interception, and governments around the world are working to ensure their unfettered access to them. Corporate databases are collecting and marketing data on individual credit-worthiness, incomes, spending patterns, brand choices, medical conditions, and 15 SUMMER 2008 • 55 TRENDS FOR TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY
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