TIA released a paper in 2024 examining key trends across the tourism context that will determine what the visitor experiences tourism will look like in by 2030. 

The key drivers are: 

• Changing visitors. Generation changes as Baby Boomers age and Gen Z and younger generations grow in importance, growing middle class in emerging markets, visitors seeking experience-driven travel, and changing of values of our visitors. 
  
  
• Changing technology. Industry digitisation, rapidly emerging AI and the myriad new innovations that it supports, increased connectivity and new data. 
  
  
• Changing industry. Shifting to a sustainable industry, based on Manaakitanga, Māori tourism growth, connected industry and destination stewardship. 

While not predicting the future, the industry will need to be thinking about adapting to substantial change in the years ahead, and to be shaping it where it can. 

Underlying these changes are pathways to more personalised, self-directed, sustainable and engaged travellers. This is what we do well as a destination already, and so we can build on these very positively as we move into future. Applying destination intelligence is how we can forge this path to meet and anticipate the needs of tomorrow’s travellers.