Skift Take

"The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic." -- Peter Drucker.

Last week at the Skift Global Forum we released our second print magazine, what we called The Versus Issue.

Apart from our usual timely coverage of the business of travel, this magazine looks at what we are calling “The Fault Lines of Disruption” in the global travel industry. These fault lines manifest themselves in the form of old versus new, consumer versus business, east versus west, left versus right, and many other such clashes.

Along these fault lines, we juxtapose some of these central conflicts to consider. We don’t aim to be the judge of which of parties to these clashes will win out or which of them is good versus bad, but that the opportunities for disruption in the industry lie in understanding and capitalizing on these conflicts. The answer, in some cases, will be completely new industries that have the best mix of old and new.

The new reality in the travel industry could very well be the constant churn of new fault lines as old ones get settled, as it is in other big global sectors sectors like technology, media and finance.

As we have always maintained here at Skift, there are few ways to future-proof yourself against being consumed by these fault lines:

  • Marketing/Tech/User Experience/Design: As long as you are in the cross hairs of these four pillars, you have future-proofed yourself.
  • Don’t get swept up in the headlines all around you, build around larger Trendlines emerging.
  • Be fanatically focused on the changing consumer behavior.

Here is a prescriptive list of 31 different fault lines we here at Skift are watching, and we have addressed some of these in the pages of the magazine.

  • Customer Service vs. Customer Experience
  • Alternative Accommodations vs. Traditional Lodging
  • Car Hailing vs. Car Rentals
  • Packaged vs. Unbundled Travel
  • Low-Cost Airlines vs. Full-Service Airlines
  • Corporate Travel vs. Business Traveler
  • Hate Selling vs. Love Selling
  • Cruise Industry vs. Non-Cruisers
  • Cities for Locals vs. Cities For Tourists
  • Pervasive Connectivity vs. Mindfulness
  • Advance Planning vs. Last Minute Booking
  • Design vs. User Experience In All Phases of Travel
  • Millennials vs. Post-Millennials (Generation Z)
  • Crumbling Americans Airports vs. Traveler Demands
  • China vs. Rest of the World
  • Sustainable Travel vs Consumer Apathy
  • Global Seamless Mobility vs. Visa Regimes Built For Security
  • Closed Mobile Apps vs. Embedded Mobile Services
  • Search Box vs. Messaging For Consumer Queries
  • South & Southeast Asia vs South America vs Africa
  • Growth of Travel Globally vs. Vacationless Americans
  • Iconic Destinations vs. Young Experiential Travelers
  • Fragmentation in Tours & Activities vs. Aggregation Platforms
  • Conversion Marketing vs. Brand Building
  • Geopolitical Upheavals vs. Billion Plus Travelers
  • Travel Startups vs. Repeat Usage By Travelers
  • Loyalty Programs vs. Brand Fanatics
  • English Language vs Global Languages Reaching Travel Customers
  • Non Diverse Travel Executives vs. Global Diversity of Travelers
  • Direct Booking vs Online Booking Sites (OTAs)
  • Priceline/Expedia vs. ??

We will be offering a PDF of the magazine for download online in the coming days. Watch out for the download announcement here.

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Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

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