An interesting session at the recent Institute of Travel Management (ITM) Conference in Scotland highlighted global ‘mega trends’ covering issues such as urbanisation, climate change, shift of global economic power and demographic and social change.

It’s this last topic that is likely to have a profound effect on who could be driving change in our industry, ten years from now.

By 2025, the world’s population is likely to reach 8.1 billion. The average age in most developed countries is also rising fast.

For example, the average age of the UK population is currently 40 years and is expected to rise to an average of 45 by 2025, and it’s a similar picture in most developed countries. What chance of a middle or old-aged community trail-blazing our technological future?

It’s a very different picture in developing countries such as Mexico or Nigeria, where the average ages are just 26 and 19 respectively.
Young people embrace technology fast, so it’s no surprise that the norm for communication across much of Africa is now the mobile phone – where the number of devices often exceeds the total population.

One of the biggest changes though, is the improvement of higher education in developing countries. If we assume that the drivers for change will come from the ‘bright young things’ of tomorrow (remember, Mark Zuckerberg was just 20 when he founded Facebook), surely it’s just as likely that the next big idea for corporate travel will emanate from Mexico, Indonesia or Nigeria, rather than the US or Europe.