FutureTravel Newsletter 23 / July 01

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Hi ,

People often tell me that they like the fact that FutureTravel has some sort of positive and uplifting vibe and, although I appreciate any feedback (always!), I don’t want these weekly emails to sound naive. Here is the thing: I strongly believe that the future of travel really is something to be optimistic about. The more I follow the news and business developments in the sector, the more confident I get about it. Well , I hope this week’s overview of what's going on in the travel industry gives you a confidence boost, too.Here is your weekly roundup:✈ Remember the days before the pandemic when social media made us feel like everyone else was traveling but us? We were witnessing a big boom of digital creators focused on travel, that's what was going on. For now, many of them seem to have pivoted to other areas, but the travel industry might need them on the short and mid term. The publication Skift published an interesting piece about this topic which I think is worth reading. And hey, while we are at it: who's the travel influencer we can't miss? Hit reply and let me know! :)✈ TravelPerk announced a new partnership with Divvy, the leading spend and expense management platform. Although this is mostly relevant for US-based small and medium-sized businesses, it's great to see them doing yet another fresh collaboration when it comes to optimising the experiences for their clients. Through this collaboration, TravelPerk will provide all Divvy's clients with a simpler way to handle their travel needs on business trips, while also giving finance teams a central place to control, manage, and track spend. Seems like everyone wins, eh? :)✈ These headlines made me kind of confused about ever having used the term crisis when talking about the travel industry, but here it goes: United Airlines made it's biggest purchase to date: 270 new airplanes. If it's too difficult to wrap your mind around this number, here is a reference for you: Easyjet has 318 aircrafts.✈ Touristic destinations are getting busy again in the South of Europe - that's the good news. But hotels, that just managed to get their booking numbers up again, are now facing a new challenge: the lack of workers. Oh-oh. ✈ How can we ensure that travel will come back in a safe and sustainable way? That’s what Airbnb wanted to find out during an interesting virtual conversation they hosted this week: the company brought together Airbnb hosts and EU policymakers from the European Parliament and the European Commission to discuss the future of European travel. No news, but there seems to be a strong need both for a clear and fair regulation for short term rentals and to support local communities. Let's see what comes from this conversation moving forward...✈ It sounds very obvious when we say that the travel industry took a strong hit during the pandemic. But this week a new study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development shows that this “big hit” will cost more than 4 trillion dollars for the global economy. Ahm… to be honest that’s worst than I thought. ✈ Tourism represented 20% of Thailand’s economy before the pandemic and everyone was looking for ways to make things work again - so they did! They found their way to reopen Phuket, their most touristic island, with a courageous program called Phuket Sandbox, which does not include quarantine for the travellers. Bold!That's it for today, . Hope you liked the new layout we are testing on this edition.See you next Thursday,Ana