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Trend
Watch '07
Excerpted
from the Summer 2007 edition of the Zeitgeist Client Newsletter
SPEED GOLF
A number of years ago, friend and trend talker Peter Yesawich suggested
that, as our feeling of time impoverishment increased, golf would be
a casualty. The reason: as much as many love the game, it takes too
long to play. His suggestion was for developers to consider designing
future courses like a railroad round-house with the clubhouse in the
center. That way, golfers could play by the hole. Only have time for
6 or 12...no problem, as you’d return to the clubhouse every other
hole.
Well, some golfers just couldn’t wait for the new wave of course
design to take hold. And, while nearing the 30th anniversary of its
creation, Speed Golf, a combination of running and golfing, is starting
to take off among the extreme and harried. A Speed Golf score is the
combination of golf score and the total time it takes to complete 18
holes. For example, a golf score of 85 combined with a running time
of 55 minutes produces a speedgolf score of 140. And, they’re
off the course in an hour.
Like turning tables in a restaurant, smart golf courses will be opening
earlier for Speed Golfers, who often play before work.
MANCATIONS
Half of American women enjoyed an all-girlfriend getaway in the past
3 years...and 90% say they want to.
Apparently feeling left out (and increasingly past that “sensitive
man” crap that caused so many to jettison their guy pals to keep
their honeys happy), over one third of men say they took a City Slicker-style
vaca last year.
We think that number is boastfully high...but men are increasingly traveling
in packs. And, we expect some enterprising DMOs to develop packages
that put these two groups together.
DIVORCE
VACATIONS
Which, of course, could help fuel this next emerging trend: Vacation
Getaways celebrating one’s freedom from matrimony.
According to A
Luxury Travel Blog, The Grand
Velas All Suites and Spa Resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, is
offering an ‘Ultimate Divorcee Vacation’ package for those
who are recently divorced and “wondering where to go and what
to do with the diamond wedding ring”. The package includes being
pampered with a four-hour “Diamond Divorce” spa experience
and a private consultation with a jeweler on what do with your ring.
DESTINATION WEDDINGS
And, if Divorce Vacations are the new rage, we’ll need more weddings
to fuel this new, emerging trend. There’s increasingly good news
for destination marketers on this front as 16% of weddings are now being
staged outside of the bride’s hometown.
From far-flung destinations that feature beaches or entertainment to
those that are uniquely meaningful (like getting married on a glacier
in Juneau
AK), more and more couples are opting to invest the now
$27,000 average for weddings in something more unique and meaningful
than entertaining 200+ of their parents’ friends.
ZZZ VACATIONS
Then, there is the growing need for consumers to stop and simply catch
up on their sleep. In part driven by the new lines of plush beds and
creature comforts being offered by several hotel chains, this trend
offers hotels an increased opportunity to maximize the available revenue
from the consumer by keeping them on site longer.
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