The pandemic may be fading in many markets, but the Ukraine crisis is a reminder that volatility in travel demand is here to stay. Airlines, hotels, and cruise lines need to draw faster insights from their data to thrive.<\/p>\n
Volatility in travel demand signals will remain long after the pandemic wanes. That\u2019s according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG)<\/a>, which argues that airlines, hotel chains, and cruise lines need to draw faster insights from their data.<\/p>\n \u201cHistory is no longer necessarily a lens to the future,\u201d said Jason Guggenheim<\/a>, global head of travel at BCG\u2019s travel and tourism practice. Innovative companies need ways to see the future with more clarity in a world that is more volatile.<\/p>\n This analysis echos one of Skift\u2019s megatrends defining travel in 2022<\/a>, which was that \u201cuncertainty is the new certainty<\/a>.\u201d Companies that are flexible with a greater diversity of business lines will perform the best against unknowns, we argued.<\/p>\n The consultancy\u2019s specific point is that the pandemic made classic revenue management practices<\/a> less reliable.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing people move from \u2018can I predict demand?\u2019 to \u2018can I sense demand?\u2019,\u201d Guggenheim said in a new podcast<\/a> last week. \u201cManagement teams and leaders have to look for signals that are far weaker and maybe in some cases not even related to the industry they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n Tuning in to Hear Subtle Shifts in Demand<\/p>\n The pandemic\u2019s disruption was unprecedentedly severe, but it wasn\u2019t just a one-off. The knock-on effects of the surprise Russian invasion of Ukraine have once again upended the traditional ways companies use to predict supply and demand trends to set pricing for different customer segments.<\/p>\n