Veganism’s Influence on Tourism Will Grow: GlobalData

According to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, Veganism’s impact on tourism space is growing. Vegan-friendly tours, excursions and digital travel apps are emerging as another tool for travel companies to attract environmentally focused individuals.

As companies across the travel and tourism spectrum look to recover from the harmful impact of COVID-19, they see greater personalization as key. This helps ensure satisfaction and consequently, accommodating every traveler type – vegan included – will be critical in the future of travel.

“Vegan travelers can often encounter problems ranging from where to stay to a lack of suitable meal choices. Language barriers and cultural differences can often exacerbate these problems. This creates an opportunity where personalized recommendations are lacking and catering for a growing vegan consumer base could soon be a key differentiator,” says Johanna Bonhill-Smith, Travel & Tourism Analyst.

Unique apps have emerged in the field, such as Veg Visits and Air Vegan. For example, Veg Visits is a Vegan home sharing platform providing individuals with ‘vegan hosts’ across 80 different countries. Air Vegan rates how vegan friendly an airport is, giving users insights into the best Vegan food spots within it. Some lodging providers also commonly provide for the Vegan tourist with hoteliers and Hilton opened its first Vegan hotel suite in 2019. Tour operators are also capitalizing on this market with smaller companies such as Responsible Travel promoting 34 Vegan holidays across destinations worldwide including Greece, Ethiopia, India and Costa Rica.

In a GlobalData survey conducted in December 2020, 76% of over 5,700 global respondents identified they were influenced by how ethical/environmentally friendly/socially responsible the product/service is. However, a consumer survey conducted before the pandemic (in 2019) showed that only 46% of global respondents actively bought products that are ‘better for the environment or animal friendly’. This suggests travelers’ perceptions are changing during COVID-19 and many may decide to make more environmentally friendly decisions – including going vegan.

“As travel companies aspire to personalize each individual’s experience, ‘veganism’ should be an area to be acknowledged and acted upon, not ignored across the tourism sector,” concludes Bonhill-Smith, emphasizing the importance of catering to a traveller’s every need to restore confidence and ensure satisfaction.

GlobalData’s Q32019 Global consumer survey – 29,744 respondents

GlobalData’s latest Global COVID-19 Recovery survey (2-6 Dec 2020) – 5,766 respondents. ‘Always’, ‘somewhat’ and ‘often’ responses combined

About GlobalData

4,000 of the world’s largest companies, including over 70% of FTSE 100 and 60% of Fortune 100 companies, make timelier and better business decisions thanks to GlobalData’s unique data, expert analysis and innovative solutions, all in one platform. GlobalData’s mission is to help our clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative across a range of industries, including the healthcare, consumer, retail, financial, technology and professional services sectors.

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