Edition #73, Aug 5

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Dear ,

This week we head directly to our curation of the top news on travel innovation, trends and startups:

• The travel space race is firmly on. We all know about billionaire plans from Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson to launch a new era of galactic tourism, but now there is another player on the market. And they want to make space tourism more available to more travellers. Space Perspective is on the brink of transporting explorers to the edge of space, using carbon-neutral tech. These flights won’t be rocket-propelled, but rather more gentle, propelled by a patented SpaceBalloon. Taking a look inside the Spaceship Neptune, travellers will find themselves in a sleek, designed Space Lounge - designed to create a relaxing environment. It’s a space tourism option that is more mellow than the traditional image of being jet launched into the galaxy that normally comes to mind. Space Perspective’s first commercial space flights are planned to take off in late 2024, and tickets are going for $125k per passenger, the trip lasting a total of 6 hours.

• There’s a new travel careers directory in town. With the growing talent shortage in the travel and hospitality sector leaving businesses in disarray, travellers exasperated and the whole industry facing an increasingly problematic predicament, Travel Massive has launched its new careers directory: Travel Careers. The marketplace is designed for travel pros, digital nomads and creators, giving them a one-stop-shop to find the perfect travel job for them, helping gaps be filled and the travel world to work with more harmony again. For everyone out there looking for their next hire - here you can list vacancies and grow your talent pool, reaching travel pros from around the world, accessing global reach to untapped talent.

• Airbnb’s profits are flying high. What a good feeling it must be to announce the most profitable Q2 ever - that’s currently the case for Airbnb, with income of $379 million on $2.1 billion revenue. The company has been making leaps and bounds in recent years and in the past couple of months it has added even more features to the platform. Its commitment to constantly evolve and update its product offering is certainly paying off, and it’s now able to offer travellers and thrill seekers a stay and experiences in all corners of this wonderful planet. The company has reported that while growth continues to remain strongest in non-urban areas, Airbnb says it is now seeing clear signs of travellers returning to cities. You might remember in a recent newsletter update we shared that Co-Founder Joe Gebbia announced he was stepping down, wanting to focus on new ventures and family-time. He said the decision was made because Airbnb was in good hands - and this news sure shows it!

• Predicting evolving travel demands is getting simpler. ZYTLYN, a Swiss startup, is helping travel companies make rapid and well-informed decisions to keep up with constantly changing travel patterns. It’s more critical than ever for businesses to be able to forecast and have oversight on what’s going on - travellers are jet setting once again, but they’re doing so in a different way than before: now impacted by changing regulations, prices, climate change and so forth. ZYTLYN’s platform predicts and reflects up-to-date info on where and when travellers want to go and what they’re willing to pay. It provides companies (such as airlines and hotels) with actionable predictions of demand patterns, for pricing, revenue management, and sales, to name a few - and now they just secured new funding from Velocity Ventures to grow the business forward.

• Dynamic pricing is coming to a vacation rental near you. Giving the short-term rental industry a democratised and affordable dynamic pricing and revenue management tool, PriceLabs has just picked up $30 million from Summit Partners. Dynamic pricing has been implemented in the travel industry for some time now, but it's generally being used by the big providers, the big names with the cash to spend on fancy tech and comprehensive platforms. PriceLabs wants to bring the competitive edge to small business owners giving them the chance to more easily manage personal rental property and efficiently adjust prices based on demand fluctuations. The company already powers over 150,000 listings in more than 100 countries and is scaling fast. It’s able to update prices automatically through direct integrations with different property management software solutions - regardless of whether it’s a cabin in the woods or a super-chic Parisian pad.

• Trains, coaches, buses, cars and full pack of booking options. From taxis to food deliveries, Uber may have started out life as a ride-hailing service, but it’s since expanded to a platform with an extensive range of use cases. Now, in the UK, Uber is adding train and coach travel to its app via a fully integrated tie-up with Berlin’s multimodal travel platform, Omio. Omio’s app gives users the chance to select and book from a range of transport options and it’s one of Europe’s most prominent travel startups. In recent years, the unicorn company has been expanding into B2B partnerships, making its inventory available to partners so they can add transport booking options to their own apps and platforms. This new tie-up is the latest and we will be keeping a close eye to see how it goes.

• Boeing is building sustainable aviation in Japan. Aviation giant Boeing has unveiled its plans to open a new research and technology centre in Japan as part of plans to develop future-proof aviation solutions. Air travel is frequently called out for its carbon emissions and environmental footprint. Moving the industry to a climate-neutral and sustainable point requires plenty of investment, innovation and commitment to collaboration. This new announcement from Boeing encompasses all of this. Working with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, this broadens the pair’s cooperation agreement to now include a focus on sustainable aviation fuel, electric and hydrogen powertrain technologies, and future flight concepts that will promote zero climate impact aviation.

Wishing you a great weekend ahead, Ana

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The content of this newsletter is curated and published by Ana Metz, innovation expert, passionate about technology and excited about the future of travel.

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