This report provides the global community of hospitality professionals with critical insights into emerging trends and developments, with a particular focus on the future of business travel. Business travellers play a pivotal role within the tourism industry, contributing significantly to international travel, GDP, and business revenues.In light of recent disruptions and evolving challenges, this forward-looking study aims not only to reflect on the past but, more importantly, to anticipate future developments and uncertainties in the realm of business travel. By doing so, it offers strategic insights to help hospitality leaders navigate the ever-evolving landscape of the industry.Key findings from the Yearly Outlook include:• Recovery of International Travel: By 2024, international travel arrivals have surpassed 2019 levels by 2%, signalling a full recovery in the sector. In Amsterdam, there was a 13% decrease in business traveller numbers, offset by an increase in the average length of stay from 2.34 to 2.71 days. Notably, more business travellers opted for 3-star accommodations, marking a shift in preferences.• Future of Business Travel: The report outlines a baseline scenario that predicts a sustainable, personalised, and seamless business travel experience by 2035. This future will likely be driven by AI integration, shifts in travel patterns—such as an increase in short-haul trips, longer stays combining business and leisure—and a growing focus on sustainability.• Potential Disruptors: The study also analyses several potential disruptors to these trends. These include socio-political shifts that could reverse sustainability efforts, risks associated with AI-assisted travel, the decline of less attractive business destinations, and the impact of global geopolitical tensions.The Yearly Outlook provides practical recommendations for hospitality professionals and tourism policymakers. These recommendations focus on building resilience, anticipating changes in business travel preferences, leveraging AI and technological advancements, and promoting sustainable practices within the industry.
The Dutch government and leading academics in the field of circular economy propose that “repurposing”, i.e., finding new usages for discarded material, is important to reduce resource usage. Waste collectors, municipalities and start-ups increasingly find ways to develop circular business models, aiming for minimum loss of material integrity. Repurpose is a circular business model strategy which entails using a discarded product or its parts in a new product with a different function.The aim of this research is to gain a better understanding of this promising but academically underexposed circular strategy by empirically exploring its key characteristics and developing a taxonomy that reflects the scope and potential of the concept. The taxonomy development was based on clustering and comparing 96 case examples using key characteristics and critical factors empirically collected by means of 11 semi-structured expert interviews. The taxonomy was iteratively refined and validated by means of workshops with experts.This paper proposes a taxonomy and a comprehensive definition for repurposing. The Repurpose taxonomy distinguishes three main categories with increasing levels of material integrity: “Reprocess”, “Reshape” and “Recontextualize”. The taxonomy provides a refinement of existing circular business model patterns and frameworks for closing material loops strategies. It shows how repurposing may exploit the creative potential of design to fill the gap between reuse and recycling by retaining previously added value with three levels of physical adjustment.
Letting go of the firm or “my baby” as some entrepreneurs describe their creation, leads to a certain amount of stress (Rahim 1996, Kets de Vries 1999). Dealing with stress in singular events as the transfer of a business, is hardly been subject of research (Uy et al. 2012). Improving coping strategies in business transfers for the incumbent could be of importance as statistics indicate the continued aging of owners in the European Union. Expanding the possibilities of incumbents to sell their business and move on to their next phase in their life would help to offset such negative effects to each national economy. The number of failed business transfers of viable SMEs now threatens innovative driven European economies (European Commission 2003, Van Teeffelen 2010, Stone et al. 2004). A recent study calculated that the Dutch economy suffers 20,000 unnecessary SME liquidations and approximately 10,000 failed successions per annum, with a projected economic damage of 80,000 jobs, a loss of turnover of almost € 4 billion and a destruction of assets of about € 2 billion yearly (Van Teeffelen 2012). Therefore we believe that coping strategies and psychological barriers in business transfers deserve more academic attention. Our aim is to check and add items to the list of psychological barriers and finally to relate barriers to coping styles. Therefore we engaged in a qualitative study that seeks to explain a particular issue and allows the researcher to study issues in depth and produces detailed data on a small number of individuals (Hyde 2000).
Sea Lettuce, Ulva spp. is a versatile and edible green seaweed. Ulva spp is high in protein, carbohydrates and lipids (respectively 7%-33%; 33%-62% and 1%-3% on dry weight base [1, 2]) but variation in these components is high. Ulva has the potential to produce up to 45 tons DM/ha/year but 15 tons DM/ha/year is more realistic.[3, 4] This makes Ulva a possible valuable resource for food and other applications. Sea Lettuce is either harvested wild or cultivated in onshore land based aquaculture systems. Ulva onshore aquaculture is at present implemented only on a few locations in Europe on commercial scale because of limited knowledge about Ulva biology and its optimal cultivation systems but also because of its unfamiliarity to businesses and consumers. The objective of this project is to improve Ulva onshore aquaculture by selecting Ulva seed material, optimizing growth and biomass production by applying ecophysiological strategies for nutrient, temperature, microbiome and light management, by optimizing pond systems eg. attached versus free floating production and eventually protoype product development for feed, food and cosmetics.
De markt vraagt om steeds meer productvariëteit. Veel bedrijven realiseren productvariëteit nu met veel klant-specifiek engineeringswerk (Engineer-to-Order/EtO). Dit zet druk op alle afdelingen in het bedrijf zoals sales, engineering, productie en service. Een uitdagende manier voor deze bedrijven, om beter met het spanningsveld tussen externe en interne eisen om te gaan, is het ontwikkelen van meer configureerbare producten (lego principe}. Hiervoor is een modulaire opbouw van het product nodig waarin verschillende productonderdelen gestandaardiseerd zijn en gebruikt kunnen worden in verschillende eindproducten. Zo kan, met minder engineeringsactiviteiten, een product geconfigureerd worden (Configure-to-Order/CtO) en de klant productvariëteit worden geboden zonder alle interne druk. Voor diverse bedrijven vormen ook de mogelijkheden van Industry 4.0 en sustainabilty ambities belangrijke drivers in hun streven naar meer CtO. Het implementeren van CtO is echter niet eenvoudig. Het vraagt om aanzienlijke capaciteit, kennis en kunde op het gebied van productontwikkeling, procesontwikkeling en het veranderproces. Betrokkenheid van medewerkers uit alle belangrijke afdelingen (verkoop, engineering, productie, service etc.) is een vereiste. Mkb-bedrijven worstelen hiermee en hebben behoefte aan goede tools en technieken, zowel inhoudelijk, over de ontwikkeling van de productarchitectuur en de impact hiervan op de bedrijfsprocessen, als veranderkundig, hoe deze transitie tot stand te brengen. In dit Sia RAAK-mkb onderzoek willen wij samen met productie mkb-bedrijven, kennisinstellingen en brancheorganisaties een integrale aanpak ontwikkelen om CtO op een goede manier te implementeren. De deelnemende mkb-bedrijven hebben de duidelijke wens om dit de komende jaren te doen. Voor de specifieke casussen zullen met casestudies en interventieonderzoek aanpakken ontwikkeld worden. Studentprojecten zullen ondersteuning geven aan de verschillende interventies. Vervolgens zal systematisch case-vergelijkend onderzoek worden uitgevoerd om inzicht te krijgen in wat in welke situatie werkt. Op basis van het case-vergelijkend onderzoek worden tools en technieken ontwikkeld die enerzijds generiek zijn en anderzijds kunnen worden aangepast aan specifieke bedrijfssituaties.
Client: Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) Funder: RAAK (Regional Attention and Action for Knowledge circulation) The RAAK scheme is managed by the Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). Early 2013 the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport started work on the RAAK-MKB project ‘Carbon management for tour operators’ (CARMATOP). Besides NHTV, eleven Dutch SME tour operators, ANVR, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Climate Neutral Group and ECEAT initially joined this 2-year project. The consortium was later extended with IT-partner iBuildings and five more tour operators. The project goal of CARMATOP was to develop and test new knowledge about the measurement of tour package carbon footprints and translate this into a simple application which allows tour operators to integrate carbon management into their daily operations. By doing this Dutch tour operators are international frontrunners.Why address the carbon footprint of tour packages?Global tourism contribution to man-made CO2 emissions is around 5%, and all scenarios point towards rapid growth of tourism emissions, whereas a reverse development is required in order to prevent climate change exceeding ‘acceptable’ boundaries. Tour packages have a high long-haul and aviation content, and the increase of this type of travel is a major factor in tourism emission growth. Dutch tour operators recognise their responsibility, and feel the need to engage in carbon management.What is Carbon management?Carbon management is the strategic management of emissions in one’s business. This is becoming more important for businesses, also in tourism, because of several economical, societal and political developments. For tour operators some of the most important factors asking for action are increasing energy costs, international aviation policy, pressure from society to become greener, increasing demand for green trips, and the wish to obtain a green image and become a frontrunner among consumers and colleagues in doing so.NetworkProject management was in the hands of the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport (CSTT) of NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences. CSTT has 10 years’ experience in measuring tourism emissions and developing strategies to mitigate emissions, and enjoys an international reputation in this field. The ICT Associate Professorship of HZ University of Applied Sciences has longstanding expertise in linking varying databases of different organisations. Its key role in CARMATOP was to create the semantic wiki for the carbon calculator, which links touroperator input with all necessary databases on carbon emissions. Web developer ibuildings created the Graphical User Interface; the front end of the semantic wiki. ANVR, the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour operators, represents 180 tour operators and 1500 retail agencies in the Netherlands, and requires all its members to meet a minimum of sustainable practices through a number of criteria. ANVR’s role was in dissemination, networking and ensuring CARMATOP products will last. Climate Neutral Group’s experience with sustainable entrepreneurship and knowledge about carbon footprint (mitigation), and ECEAT’s broad sustainable tourism network, provided further essential inputs for CARMATOP. Finally, most of the eleven tour operators are sustainable tourism frontrunners in the Netherlands, and are the driving forces behind this project.
