As you would imagine, the next twelve months promise significant change in the travel industry and will affect entire economy.

Travel Trend 1: Going Mobile:   With the rapid integration of mobile capabilities to plan itineraries, track flights, receive travel alerts and serve as a boarding pass is making mobile devices such as smartphones indispensible to business travelers, mobile is growing!

Trend 2: Traveler-Centric Buying:   The traveler-centric buying approach has the potential to enhance productivity by keeping travel employees informed about a guest’s plans pre-trip – their profile, preferences, historical behavior---adding last minute possibilities to the travel equation.

Trend 3: Video Conferencing: Traveling Without The Trip:   The best way to control travel costs in a downturn is to simply cancel the trip altogether and use  new super quality video conferencing tools as a practical alternative to business travel. Video-conferencing will be the lead trend in 2010.

Trend 4. Traveling on a budget:   It’s time to look beyond what seems like a good rate, and seek out options - like free nights on a multiple night stay, gift cards, spa credits, complimentary dining, and more.

Trend 5. Traveling on a serious budget
Expect a lot from this suddenly relevant trend – call it traveling on pennies and expect it to include totally no frills hotels, flights, etc. - in 2010.

Travel Trend 6. Whole Body Scanners: Get ready to show your stuff. Travelers will soon find that checking through security will be a revealing experience with the rollout of whole body image scanners that can see beneath clothing.

Travel Trend 7. China, India and Gulf States are the new hotspots: Global travelers are going beyond Europe with their travels, and expanding their horizons. Industry insiders are expecting travel to skyrocket in China, India, and The Gulf States over the next twelve months. These parts of the world are offering incredible packages.

Tend 8. Luxury And Adventure Travel :  For 2010, the jetset aren’t just populating 5-star hotels anymore. Now they arrange travel packages that will have them jumping out of helicopters, jetting to top ski slopes, taking safaris, getting high-speed car tours around major cities, arranging personalized art tours, and more exotics.

Trend 9. Eco-travel: Arrange a trip that will have you flying on a fuel-efficient plane to a self-sustaining villa running on solar power and green technology. It’s a growing industry, so if you want to spend a little extra cash and feel good about keeping the world clean, this is your travel mode of choice in 2010.

Trend 10. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics:  Not technically a trend, but the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is an event that will affect travel like an explosion. It will attract millions of travelers.

Travel specialists revealed their top travel trends, including the continued growth of trends that have been building steadily over the past year. Though some emerge out of this year’s economic downturn, others show travelers determined to create new and fulfilling travel experiences despite the economy.

Here are some projected travel trends for the coming year:

* Eighteen percent of travelers said they are taking a "staycation" this coming year. 
* Twenty percent of travelers have taken items from a hotel, such as towels, flatware, or decorative pieces.
* Fifteen percent of respondents have been to a clothing-optional or adults-only resort. 
* Fifty-two percent of travelers said it takes them less than one day to unwind. 
* Thirty-four percent of travelers are uncomfortable with the new full body scanners used by some airport security. 
* Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they spent more than they budgeted on travel in the past 12 months. 
* Fifty percent said unfavorable exchange rates will prevent them from or limit their travel to Europe in the next 12 months. 
* Sixty-one percent of travelers will visit a beach destination in 2009, 60 percent will go city sightseeing.

Travelers are returning to traditional destinations and old-fashioned manners, seeking out comfort and serenity and quiet. What’s old is new again this year.

The shaky economy has lead to some drastic changes in the ways people travel, creating new breeds of travelers, like flashpackers. The flashier version of the backpacker values the same low-cost methods of traveling as the traditional backpacker but would rather steer clear of group accommodations in lieu of a private (but affordable) room.

Cruise lines are reinventing themselves. Take the launch of Celebrity Cruises’ Solstice, the first of five in a new class of ships, intended to change the way people feel about cruising by putting a modern spin on the glamour of ocean liners past. The luxury ship exceeds the average ship’s accommodations and level of sophistication-and even adds a touch of eco-friendliness, like its heat-absorbing half-acre lawn, where can guests picnic and play croquet.

The U.S. Travel Association today announced that projected modest 2010 increases in leisure, business and international inbound travel will enable the industry to add nearly 90,000 American jobs. Leisure travel is expected to rise 2.0 percent, business travel is projected to increase by 2.5 percent and international inbound travel will increase by nearly 3.0 percent. These job gains come on the heels of 400,000 combined travel industry job losses in 2008 and 2009.

Domestic leisure travel is expected to increase 2% in 2010 with a corresponding increase in leisure travel spending of nearly 5%.  Domestic business travel will also grow 2.5% next year and business travel spending will increase 4%. Dr. Susanne Cook, a senior official of the U.S. Travel Association, stated that projected growth in leisure travel is an indicator of rising consumer confidence and disposable income. Business travel will increase, she added, based on pent-up demand for face-to-face meetings that drive growth and productivity.

Even international bound travel will increase nearly 3% in 2010, though overseas travel is projected to remain stable at 1%. Overseas travelers usually contribute much more per capita to U.S. coffers than Canadian or Mexican travelers, so there is a concern there. However, overall, travel is looking to pick up a bit next year.

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