Last week, Senior Lecturer Miguel Moital took part in an event which launched the IHG Trends Report, compiled by The Futures Company.

The report called “The new kinship economy: from travel experiences to travel relationships” looks at specific trends and how they are going to affect the travel industry in the next 10 years.

Miguel was asked to be part of the panel of experts for the live debate. The debate was hosted by travel writer Simon Calder and the other panellists included Richard Solomans IHG CEO and Sarah King from The Futures Company.

The event took place at the Intercontinental Westminster Hotel and was attended by a range of media across travel, trade and lifestyle press. Stakeholders also attended including Visit England, ABTA, WTTC and Tourism Alliance

The debate covered all areas of the report but the general conclusion was that Hotels will increasingly categorise guests by needs and occasions instead of hierarchal structure.

During the debate Miguel noted a need to consider single parent families after ONS statistics found there is now triple the number of single parent families now than 40 years ago, as well as double the number of people living alone.

The report identified the need for a deeper relationship between people and brands facilitating a ‘kinship economy’ by helping people to connect.

For more information on the IHG Trend report please see here http://www.ihgplc.com/