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In Conculsion

I’ve enjoyed exploring the digital media future in this course. As a non-matriculated student with no experience of Newhouse, I really did not know what to expect from this course, and I found a lot of value in the class discussions and readings. For all that it seemed like 80% of the class was advertising students, there was an interesting range of experience and knowledge and a lot of genuine enthusiasm for the topic.

Through putting this tumblr together, I have learned a great deal about the travel industry and its intersection with media. There are many interesting trends to watch and opportunities for destinations that can spot them. I’ll post a link here to my final project, which explores this in more depth, when it’s published.  

I feel like more of a techno-optimist now than I did at the beginning of this course. Through the discussions, exploration of the history of innovations and guest speakers who play a role in the digital future, the active role of everyone in the class was emphasized. Being armed with frameworks for discussing forecasts and examining trends lends to a feeling of preparedness. I enjoyed getting out of the realm I work in and would recommend this class to those who can take it and several of the books to those who can’t. 

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This is an interesting example of the blending of media companies and other companies, in this case, a media company focused on black millennials and another start up the provides travel guidance and tips specifically for black millennials. Blavity’s goal is to be a lifestyle brand for “with both online and offline experiences geared toward underrepresented millennials.”

Partnering with such brands would be an interesting way for remote resorts that might otherwise fly under the radar to reach a new audience. By providing branded experiences, Adirondack destinations with less reach and low marketing knowledge could leverage the existing audience of a brand like Blavity to interact different with potential guests. 

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This article looks at some stats that back up the belief that millennials are interested in unique travel destinations that are relatively affordable. It looks at how millennials have different attitudes toward PTO than older generations; they’re actually more inclined to not use all of their PTO because they fear using PTO makes it seem like they’re not dedicated to their jobs. Nonetheless, they are intrepid and unconventional travelers and are not as tied to seasons and traditional destinations as older travelers.

Again, this trend is an ideal one for remote destinations like Adirondack resorts to tap into. Barriers such as price could still inhibit travel. One of the significant expenses of remote destinations - the time and expense of reaching them - might be creatively met by shared travel. Making Adirondack destinations more available in the shoulder seasons at discounted prices for this demographic may also prove fruitful. 

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Here, a traveler recounts her family’s stay at an unplugged resort in the Adirondacks, Timberlock. The camp is rustic and remote both by happenstance and by choice; the area is without cell service but, on the camp’s website(https://timberlock.com/), the owners make it clear that they have purposefully opted not to update their cabins even with electricity. They are intentional about the way the camp is, marketing the lack of connection as a positive.  

The camp provides a good case study for unplugged Adirondack resorts. Their messaging would appeal to many people interested in unplugged getaways, but I’m a little doubtful of the reach of their messaging. Their social media presence is a little limited and they have only 23 reviews on TripAdvisor despite having been in business since the 1960s. Perhaps they have all the guests they need, but I’d be interested in exploring ways to expand their reach. 

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Adobe made upgrades to their data management platform, Adobe Audience Manager, to assist customers in analyzing consumer data. It’s an integration of Adobe Analytics and Adobe Audience Manager that enables companies to better understand the story of their data. MGM Resorts was one of the companies to beta test the upgrades and they reported they “...were able to confidently prove out key user characteristics, that ultimately increased the propensity for a user to book a particular set of properties.”

The use of big data shapes and will continue to shape the travel industry. On the user end, it should mean more personalized service and anticipated needs. It will also mean more targeting of customers by travel industry companies. Remote locations like the Adirondacks might need to contract with ad agencies to help compete against larger corporations on the national and international stage. 

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This article gives a basic introduction to blockchain and discusses some of the ways it would interact with the travel industry. Those interviewed discuss some of the potential of blockchain, which they think is useful but overhyped at the moment. They see the primary interaction between travel and blockchain taking place in settling transactions and don’t necessarily think end users will experience much of a change compared to current ways of doing business, except that it should be more secure. 

I do think widespread adoption of blockchain could change the travel experience. The transparent ledger could increase trust in apps like Uber and AirBnB, and people who still see trust as a barrier to use might be more inclined to use them. It would boost the share economy and traditional brands might suffer by comparison.  

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This is a VR add on that uses fans to simulate temperature and wind. It’s intended to enhance the VR experience and have the VR experience involve more senses than sight and hearing. This could be an interesting tool for people marketing the Adirondacks. Such improvements to VR could also be used to help protect fragile ecosystems in some of the remote destinations that are suffering damage as they increase in popularity. While some travelers will always prefer the in-person experience, this might make fragile places like mountain summits both more-accessible for people with a broader range of abilities while possibly satisfying others curiosity and discouraging physical visits.

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Unconventional, little-known travel destinations are a strong trend for 2018. Unique accommodations including tree houses and boat houses are in.  People are increasingly looking for unique getaways that are close to outdoorsy, picturesque locations. Again, this trend should work well for destinations in the Adirondacks. It will be interesting to watch destinations try to maintain their sense of uniqueness and exclusivity if they get significant traffic and tagged Instagram posts. 

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This article describes a few trends of the near future of travel. It gives particular attention to travel booking informed by emotion-reading technology, which would mostly take the shape of websites collecting data on emotions via facial recognition/emotion-reading apps. Expedia is currently testing this kind of booking tech. They also discuss destination trends, with Asian and African destinations gained visitors while the US, in a dig presumably meant toward the GOP administration, “is looking at ways of restricting visitors.”

The tension for remote locations here might be that they will need very advanced web presences to compete on the international stage, even if the experience on the ground is rustic. It would likely be more cost effective for smaller destinations to hire this work out rather than to count on having this skill set on staff.   

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This article doesn’t really talk about its title (it basically says that the future is digital because young people rely heavily on digital for travel now), but it does provide some interesting statistics about the use of smartphones and apps in travel today in different countries. It notes that 53% of British travelers avoid hotels that charge for wifi and 61% of international travelers do the same. India, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Saudia Arbia lead for using their phones to plan and travel. 

This points again to the interesting tension between people wanting to unplug but also expecting to be able to use their smartphones the way they want to when they want to. As much as people may want to unplug at a destination in the Adirondacks, the fact that maps on phones will fail in parts of the Park is a turn off for some travelers. I think broad support for basic infrastructure improvement to at least bring reliable cell service to the region would benefit travelers and locals.  

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Vacation doesn’t necessarily feel like vacation if your phone is in your pocket dinging with work emails and many vacation destinations are catering to that desire by providing unplugged experiences. This article describes a couple interesting approaches to this - some require guests to put phones away while others persuade them to (one hotel awards guests with a phone case if they can last 24 hours with their phone locked in a hotel safe).

This is an interesting tactic for Adirondack destinations to try, especially since providing 100% connectivity and other future amenities is challenging there. The trick, I think, is to present the lack of phones as a benefit and then to actually intentionally curate the phone-less experience, rather than expecting people to entertain themselves.   

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The videos discussed here introduce people to some of the lesser-known parks of the National Park Service. This promotes the Park Service and remote destinations in a way that potentially reaches a new audience. Such visually-rich promotion might be a good way to promote the Adirondacks. 

I wonder if this might be a way for people to access fragile places like the alpine zone in the Adirondacks. There’s been discussion lately about how the Adirondack High Peaks region is being “loved to death” by high impact hiking that’s doing damage to vegetation. Could people be satisfied with this footage, lured as close as Adirondack villages but not tempted to trample the moss and lichen?    

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At a recent press event, Royal Caribbean showed off upgrades that its rolling out in about 50% of its cruises in 2018. The upgrades include app-based menu ordering, blue tooth tracking and facial recognition software to help personalize service and virtual reality experiences on on-shore trips. 

Interestingly, this change has been lead largely by Jay Schneider who came to Royal Caribbean after working with Walt Disney Co for 10 years, including interactive theme park experiences. They also compare their goals and concerns to those of NASA when designing shuttles. There’s a lot of discussion of entertaining the guests; the company is approaching the cruise experience as a media experience. They seem to be creating experiences that would never require leaving the cabin - at some point would they just abandon the cruise across the ocean part? With this level of in-room service, it hardly seems necessary. 

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What would a data driven city look like? Could data build am Epcot that people would actually want to live in? This article discusses the plans of one company, Sidewalk Labs, to test out a data-driven, high tech city neighborhood in Toronto. 

It’s interesting to consider how acceptance of this kind of immersive tech living in cities might impact the travel desires of residents. If cities widely utilize this seamless integration of personal and private life in a community that changes in accordance to feedback, will people expect the same level of responsiveness and personalization in their small town vacations? Given the shortcomings in existing infrastructure and the limitations in new construction in the Adirondacks, implementing this kind of data collection in the park would be especially complicated. 

Adirondack communities could continue to pitch themselves as places to “unplug” to appeal to these consumers. Data-soaked every day life might drive a desire to be off-the-grid, though I suspect what residents like this would want would be off-the-grid-light, maybe unplugging with the option to plug back in at a central hub. Mesh networks could provide the sort of support necessary to increase connectedness in remote areas. Given that this prototype is several years away, such expectations may not impact remote locations for some time, but tourism-dependent communities would be wise to keep an eye on these trends.  

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Government regulation is a significant blocking force that encumber many travel-related technologies. In this case, Cuomo is considering a bill that would fine people in NYC who rent out their apartments on a short-term basis. In response to the city’s concerns, AirBnB has suggested creating a registry of hosts that would be accessible to the city, and a hotline for neighbors of rented apartments to contact with any concerns. 

For all that NY claims to be “open for business,” it hasn’t been the most welcoming to sharing economy (case in point: the battle to bring ride shares to upstate NY). Being behind the curve on these trends frustrates traveler and hinders NY tourism. Of course these technologies should be reviewed carefully and parameters should be put in place to protect residents (AirBnB has a nasty side effect of pricing out residents in low-income neighborhoods), but prohibiting the share economy as this bill proposes to do will likely just prompt people to find another way around the regulations.   

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Tourism is the major industry of the Adirondack region; in 2015 it generated $1.3 billion. Many of the industries that historically drove the region (namely lumber) have declined significantly since the middle of the 20th century, and many communities are struggling. 

Anecdotally, Adirondack natives have a love/hate relationship with tourists. Many people value the remoteness of the region and resent what they feel is the tourists’ intrusion. Contrary as it might seem to outsiders, given the reliance of the region on tourism, this attitude can make locals resistant to improvements that will benefit tourists.   

This grants package at least attempts to frame improvements in a way that might appeal to the actual residents of the park. Different grant projects address a range of things including water quality and other infrastructure improvements. The most overtly tourism-related project is the Adirondack Public Observatory. Of course, Cuomo isn’t very popular in the region, but the attempt to court residents might help some of these projects succeed. 

Similar measures (government grants) will be needed to support large scale improvement of technology in the region. The increasing affordability of these technologies should speed up the delivery to this region; hopefully enough that the region can catch up with other tourist destinations that, through happenstance and cell service, have pulled ahead.    

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In keeping with the overall trend of increasing use of AI in travel, here’s a look at Hopper stepping up its AI game. Before this addition, the app operated like most flight websites, watching flight prices and alerting the user when prices were good. The AI addition takes it a step further, asking for users’ preferences and then attempting to predict what flights would suit them. 

This isn’t very independent AI. It depends on the user inputting most of the information about what they prefer and when they might want to go somewhere. I would anticipate AI-assisted travel booking leapfrogging this in the very near future, with input from various IAs informing the suggestions made to users. Hopper, though, by being the first to incorporate this low level of AI, could be positioning itself to lead in the future.