Marketing Review — Summer 2008 - (Page 16) lifestyles. While privacy regulations bar distribution of much personal information in the European Union, restrictions in the United States are much weaker. Widespread surveillance of private individuals is technically feasible and economically viable, as tiny, powerful cameras now cost next to nothing. Increased surveillance has become socially acceptable in an age when many people fear terrorism and crime. Britons are caught on camera an estimated 300 times per day, Americans about 200. ASSESSMENT: Pessimists could say that privacy already is a thing of the past; society is merely coming to recognize its loss. We believe that enough effective privacy survives outside the most authoritarian countries to justify noting its continued erosion. However, this trend could easily reach its logical conclusion within ten years. IMPLICATIONS: In the future, privacy is likely to be defined, not by the ability to keep information truly secret, but by the legal power to restrict its distribution. Even this limited form of privacy will be eroded as both government and private organizations find legal justification for their interest in personal information. Once access is granted to any type of information, it is unlikely ever to be rescinded. Most surveillance provisions of the USA Patriot Act will survive, even if the law itself is repealed or modified. In the absence of a major terrorist event, most Americans will continue to consider privacy a “right,” and privacy-related lawsuits are likely to proliferate as more people feel violated or inconvenienced by surveillance. However, courts will be unsympathetic to such suits for so long as conservative appointees dominate the bench. In large and medium-size cities around the world, spaces that remain unwatched by video cameras will continue to shrink. Growing numbers of companies, and even private citizens, will encrypt their computer data. The number of criminal cases based on surveillance will grow rapidly in countries with the required technological sophistication and infrastructure. Private citizens increasingly will use similar technologies to watch over government abuse, as in cases where bystanders have recorded police misconduct with their cell-phone cameras. IMPLICATIONS FOR HOSPITALITY AND TRAVEL: 9) Time is becoming the world’s most precious commodity. In the United States, workers spend about 10 percent more time on the job than they did a decade ago. European executives and non-unionized workers face the same trend. In Britain, an Ipsos MORI study found that 32 percent of people who had not visited a museum in the previous year reported having too little time to do so; in 1999, only 6 percent had cited that reason. China's rapid economic development means its workers also are experiencing faster-paced and time-pres- 10) The women’s equality movement is losing its significance, thanks largely to past successes. According to some, though not all, studies, women have nearly achieved pay parity with men in the United States when factors such as educational level, responsibilities, and seniority are taken into account. Younger generations of women are better educated and are even more likely to be successful than their 55 TRENDS FOR TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY • SUMMER 2008 16 200538678-012/JOHN CUMMING/GETTY IMAGES 9 10 Hospitality and travel operators are likely to find themselves facing more demands to watch for suspicious activities in travel destinations, or even to provide security agencies with information about their guests. sured lives. In a recent survey by the Chinese news portal Sina.com, 56 percent of respondents said they felt short of time. Technical workers and executives in India are beginning to report the same job-related stresses, particularly when they work on U.S. and European schedules. ASSESSMENT: This trend is likely to grow as changing technologies add the need for lifelong study to the many commitments that compete for the average worker’s time. As it matures in the United States, it is likely to survive in other parts of the world. It will not disappear until China and India reach modern post-industrial status, around 2050. IMPLICATIONS: Stress-related problems affecting employee morale and wellness will continue to grow. Companies must help employees balance their time at work with their family lives and need for leisure. This may reduce short-term profits but will aid profitability in the long run. As time for shopping continues to evaporate, Internet and mail-order marketers will have a growing advantage over traditional stores. That 64 percent said they were never late and were intolerant of other people’s tardiness suggests a new cultural challenge to the traditional Chinese concept of a leisurely existence. China, India, and other developing countries can expect consumer trends similar to those in the United States as workers seek out convenience foods, household help, and minor luxuries to compensate for their lack of leisure time. IMPLICATIONS FOR HOSPITALITY AND TRAVEL: Work pressure is eroding vacation time throughout the industrialized world. One-third of Americans take 50 percent or less of the vacation time their jobs theoretically allow. In Britain, 25 percent of employees take only part of their vacation time. In Japan, where employees are legally guaranteed 17 days per year of vacation, the average worker takes only 9.5 days annually. For those with little time, but adequate funds, multiple, shorter vacations spread throughout the year will continue to replace the traditional two-week vacation. For the most well-off travelers, time pressure is a strong incentive to use travel agents and shop for packaged tours, rather than doing their own vacation planning. This is the one force that tends to preserve a market niche for the minority of travel agents who survive the transition to Internet booking. Less wealthy vacationers will continue to speed the task of making travel arrangements and broaden their selection of affordable vacation packages by doing their shopping on the Internet. Anything destinations and tour operators can do to save time for their customers will encourage repeat visits. http://Sina.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.