Expedia and Egencia Unveil the Future of Travel Report

LONDON, October 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

• Global study into travel habits across generations
• Millennials blend business and leisure, are happy to share data to streamline travel and crave mobile devices for Business and Leisure Travel

Expedia and Egencia today launch the Future of Travel report, an examination of business and leisure travel across five continents, with 8,535 adults quizzed on their travel habits, preferences and expectations. In addition, a variety of travel industry experts from across the world provided insight and analysis on the findings.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131017/647649-INFO )

The Future of Travel report was commissioned to draw insights from generational and geographical differences regarding travel. At a time when the travel industry is experiencing a shift in geographical and technological focus (from PC to multi-platforms), the report specifically looks at how technology and new market demands will shape the travel industry.

The report explores Millennial travellers (travellers born between the early 80s and mid 90s) in detail to discover how Millennials will impact the travel landscape as they gain decision-making power at work and purchase power in their personal lives.

Key insights from the report for the UK include:

• The convergence of business and leisure travel:  They are more likely to extend a business trip into a personal holiday than older employees are. 56% % of British Millennials have done so, vs. only 22% of those over 35.
• Data sharing: 61% of British Millennial respondents save data (such as passport details, credit card information and contact details) online to streamline the travel booking process, compared to only 38% of non-Millennials. Furthermore, 86% of Millennials would be more inclined to store additional data in return for incentive rewards compared to just 51% of non-Millennials.
• Reviews: 90% of British Millennials admit that travel reviews are important for leisure travel, compared to 73% of non-Millennial travellers. Furthermore, 75% of Millennials agree this is also important for business travel, compared to just 57% of non-Millennials.

Gary Morrison, SVP and Head of Retail, Expedia Worldwide, commented: "On the cusp of a technological revolution for the travel industry, we wanted to take a deeper look at how we can better address and anticipate the evolving needs of this Millennial generation.  The importance of mobile to these travellers is already having a huge impact on travel booking. For Expedia, that has meant a new responsive design approach. By anticipating and preparing for new trends, we continue to support and delight travellers. With our unparalleled insight into emerging travel patterns, together with the technology and expertise to respond fast, we will continue to do so well into the future."

Rob Greyber, President of Egencia, added in regards to business travel: "Millennials want to travel smarter and adopt new technology faster. Technology is accelerating this trend by making business travel 'personal' again.  By providing contextualized, multiplatform travel solutions and services on the go, like Egencia TripNavigator®, we are directly supporting the future traveller's need for speed, flexibility and instant access to global travel content."

For further details from the report visit http://expediablog.co.uk/the-future-of-travel or to read the full executive summary visit http://expediablog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Future-of-Travel-Exec-Summary-Business.pdf.

Notes to editors:

For more information or to see a copy of the full report, please contact a member of the team.

Additionally, if you would like to set up a time to discuss any element of the report with an Expedia or Egencia spokesperson, please contact a member of the team.

About Expedia:

Expedia is the world's leading online travel agent offering access to 220,000 accommodation properties around the world (including boutique hotels as well as major hotel brand names),over 400 airlines along. By combining choice with specialist tools to help refine these options, Expedia.co.uk helps travellers to find and create the trip that best matches their individual requirements. Expedia.co.uk partners with loyalty programme Nectar in the UK enabling its customers to collect 200 Nectar points on flight only, hotel or car hire bookings and 1,000 points on package purchases through http://www.expedia.co.uk.

Expedia.co.uk is part of the Expedia Inc. brand portfolio. The company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and provides advertisers the opportunity to reach a highly valuable audience of in-market travel consumers through Expedia Media Solutions. Expedia also powers bookings for some of the world's leading airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates through Expedia® Affiliate Network.

Expedia, Expedia.co.uk and the Airplane logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the European Union and certain other jurisdictions. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. © 2013 Expedia, Inc.

About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. company

Egencia is a leading full-service travel management company (TMC) delivering innovative business travel technology and expert local service to over 10,000 clients in more than 50 countries around the world. As part of the Expedia, Inc. group, (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace, we provide forward-looking solutions that allow our customers to drive compliance and cost savings in their travel programmes, while meeting the needs and requirements of the modern business traveller. Egencia celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2012, and is today one of largest TMCs in the world. For more information please visit us at http://www.egencia.co.uk or connect with us on Twitter @Egencia_UK.

Contacts:
Expedia Press Office
+44(0)20-7395-7181
expediaukpress@fleishmaneurope.com

Egencia
Laura Perry
+44(0)20-7395-7151
Laura.perry@fleishmaneurope.com