Weekend Review: Understanding the Summer of Overtourism + Hedge Funds' Travel Interests

The Travel Industry's Daily Agenda-Setting Newsletter

August 19, 2017

We ended this week on what can only be charitably described as a sour note: One of the world's most iconic tourist destinations was attacked by religious zealots, killing (up to now) 14 people who were both locals and visitors. The good news, if any, was that people were back the next day both operating businesses and gawking like tourists. The freedom to live life freely, exemplified. The resilience on both sides is to be respected in the face of attacks on our (personal) favorite freedom — the freedom to travel. While we will continue to cover issues of overtourism and poor planning, we don't want that to be confused for a lack of enthusiasm for anyone's freedom to travel. Going where you want to go, without a government getting in your way, is an incredible freedom that should be pursued by every citizen and supported by their home countries. Tourism is messy, just like the real world, and the freedom to engage in it is one of the things that makes modern life such an incredible gift. — Jason Clampet, Editor-in-Chief Nearly 300 Companies Attending Skift Global Forum So Far Looking to find out who will be at Skift Global Forum this year? We're giving you the rare chance to check out which companies you'll get to network with this September. Is your company missing from the list? There is still time to register! View List Start Here Hyatt and Expedia Formally Sign New Deal Any potential crisis has now been definitively averted, at least until this contract expires. Travel-Tilting Hedge Funds Are Investing in Airlines and Online Travel Agencies Follow the money — at your own risk, of course. These two hedge funds are putting their money in airline and online travel agency stocks, often investing in competitors. Rising tides lift all boats, after all. Summer of Overtourism: 4 Lessons for the Travel Industry Destinations around the world need to wake up and realize that social problems related to tourism aren't going to solve themselves. Business of Loyalty: Bank of America Steps Into the Premium Travel Credit Card Game Bank of America has a new premium loyalty credit card for the travel industry, but its uses may be limited. Still, for the right kind of traveler the new card can end up being very lucrative. Hotel CEOs Discuss Recent Cancellation Policy Changes and Hint at More to Come As hotels tighten up their revenue management practices, expect more of these cancellation policy changes to take place in the near future. Digital Lastminute.com's Growing Pains Show Change in Online Travel Retail Being a pure play flight seller is a business approach that has probably had its day (unless you can guarantee huge volumes). Lastminute.com Group's diversification strategy over the last few years makes sense but if it is going to work it will take time. Despegar Files for $100 Million IPO and Expedia Could Benefit From Its Growth Despegar is on track to attract a $1 billion valuation. That's impressive. But its newish CEO needs to pivot the business away from a reliance on selling airline tickets, which are becoming less profitable for his firm by the day. Skift Global Forum 2017: Learn From Online Travel's Most Influential CEOs From overtourism and artificial intelligence to direct booking campaigns and the latest deals, there's a lot of ground to cover with the most influential decision-makers in online travel. Beds Hotel CEOs Say They're Cautiously Optimistic About Corporate Travel But shouldn't hotel executives be a bit more concerned? At least that's what one analyst is wondering, and we are too. Hilton CEO Looks to Airbnb as Hedge Against Power of Expedia and Booking.com In some cases, the hotel-online travel agency relationship is still a tense situation, but for most big hotel companies, it's still business as usual. Hotels May Try to Counter Airbnb's Rise With Bets on Tech No one knows what Airbnb's impact is. But our contrarian take is that it's greater than what most hoteliers think -- and accelerating by the day. Yet it's manageable if hotels act strategically. Flying Air Berlin's Slow Collapse Into Bankruptcy, Explained Over in Italy, no one wants to let Alitalia go. The Italian national carrier is also bankrupt, but keeping the airline is a matter of national pride. There's no such love for Air Berlin. It'll probably disappear, and that'll be OK. European Airline Executives Still Think There Are Too Many Airlines It seems like there is a renewed appetite among Europe's big airline groups to reduce the number of players in the market. They may find it hard to do while fuel remains cheap, but when it starts to creep up, more deals will likely occur. Airline Loyalty Programs Are Losing Their Luster — Even for Frequent Flyers Airline miles aren't worth as much as they once were. But should that come as a surprise? Four airlines control the vast majority of U.S. domestic market share. With less competition, carriers don't need to be as generous to spur loyalty. Tourism Tour Operator CEOs Say Turkey Is Coming Back to Take the Strain Off Spain Tour operators have longed for Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Egypt and Tunisia to return to their previous popularity. All of these destinations offer better value to consumers than Spain, which is at close-to-full capacity and more expensive. Their return is also good news for the people who rely on tourism for a living. Social Media Influencers Have Little Sway Over Asia-Pacific Travelers There is a ton of variation in the behavior of travelers from different countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Travel companies should pay more attention to the specific needs of the travelers they're trying to reach. Cruise Passengers Are Booking Earlier Than Ever. Is That a Good Thing? Cruise companies are finally seeing the booking behavior they desired as more passengers reserve their places earlier. But observers wonder if selling inventory too far in advance means cruise lines are leaving money on the table. Business Travel When Event Technology Is the Problem Instead of the Solution — Meetings Innovation Report While technology specifically designed for meetings and events continues to evolve, planners are, in some cases, struggling to keep up with the fast pace of that evolution. Uber for Business Got an Update That Gives Companies More Control Uber's refreshed business platform will help streamline corporate rideshare use, especially for unmanaged travel programs. Hertz and Avis Prep for Future With Self-Driving Car Partnerships Car rental giants are looking to the future, with the goal of handling logistics for whatever company ends up winning the automated car arms race. If you can't beat them, join them. For Gmail users: If you are using the tabbed inbox, Skift emails may be pushed to the 'Promotions' tab. To get updates from Skift direct to your primary inbox, drag and drop this email to that tab. You received this email because you are subscribed to Skift Daily Newsletter from Skift.

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