Business Travel

With travel restrictions in place, the U.S. travel rate in March dropped to 25% from 41% in February. What’s changed is also people’s outlook of travel on the other side of the pandemic.

Analyzing startups helps us understand what the future of travel holds. The latest generation of startups promises innovation across many facets of travel: hospitality, tours, airlines, business travel, and more.

As we wrap up 2018, our latest Skift Research report dives into what went well this year and what we can expect heading into 2019. Looking ahead, we expect another strong year of economic growth, with a few different puts and takes, which should translate well for the travel industry.

The India outbound travel market is poised to boom in a matter of years. The global travel industry needs to make itself aware of this market and why it matters now, so they’re not scrambling to catch up later.

For all the growth and enhancements we have seen in hotel loyalty programs over the past few years, differing opinions among consumers and hotel owners with regards to the overall value and success of programs remain. Clearly, the road to fostering real consumer loyalty will be a challenging one. Hotel companies should ultimately focus on driving satisfaction and providing the best service so consumers choose their brand over others and recommend it to friends and family.

There is room for optimism heading into 2018 for the global travel industry. Emerging and developing markets are showing healthy signs of growth, and global consumer and business confidence is high. Policy uncertainty and geopolitical tensions can’t be ignored, but outside of any major shock, we expect travel to benefit from a solid year of macroeconomic growth in 2018.

Emerging markets are taking over outbound travel. Economic growth is increasing living standards across the world and outbound travel is growing along. International Travel Expenditure is now shifting from a handful of countries who have historically made up most of the outbound travel to emerging markets.

The meetings and events sector is evolving at a rapid pace. Pioneering events like South by Southwest and C2 are raising event attendees' expectations, putting pressure on organizers to design more engaging experiences at events of all shapes and sizes. Meanwhile, new types of event technology like artificial intelligence and personalization tools offer new opportunities (and challenges) for meeting planners. This report investigates the state of today's conference and event sector, and examines how organizers should look to evolve their own event strategies in response in the years ahead.

Travel booking is transforming the mobile-first ecosystem. Messaging technology is replacing face-to-face and voice-to-voice commerce with a screen-to-screen conduit that stands to drive returns and open interactions to new levels of customer context and continuity that the travel industry has seldom, if ever, experienced before.

Hotel loyalty programs are facing a period of dramatic change, driven by recent devaluations of member points and picky travelers that are less loyal than ever. What strategies are hotel brands using to adapt and thrive in this changing loyalty landscape?

An in-depth look at the trends that are driving booking via smartphones and tablets, the challenges holding the market back, and strategies for businesses in the travel and hospitality industries.

The on-demand economy is on the rise, but what does on-demand mean, exactly? In this report, a look at the nature of a technology-driven sea change in consumer behavior and the business models emerging to meet it in the travel industry.