Google’s New Earbuds With Real-Time Translation and 11 Other Digital Trends This Week

Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines digital trends.

For all of our weekend roundups, go here.

>>These winning tourism videos don’t use radical production elements to tell the stories of their countries. Instead, they let the landscapes and handshakes speak for themselves, and show why travel is such a beautiful and enlightening thing: Best Tourism Videos of 2017 Highlight the Art of Storytelling

>>Who needs middlemen distributors? TripAdvisor-backed Viator is hoping that travel agencies come directly to its new platform to find tours and activities to sell to consumers: TripAdvisor Tours and Activities Brand Viator Debuts a Booking Tool for Travel Agents

>>You may have missed out on this year’s Skift Global Forum, but you don’t have to miss out on one of the key parts of the conversation at the event and within the industry: Travel in an Age of Permanxiety: Download the New Magazine

>>Fashion luxury brands generally tend to be ahead of travel brands in terms of marketing innovation and sophistication. We’ll continue to watch this space: Luxury Brands Are Beating Mass-Market Brands Across Social Media

>>The travel space is rich with content, meaning it’s not “if” but “how” luggage brands craft their messages of exploration and sophistication that will ultimately resonate with the customer: Luxury Luggage Raises the Bar for Sophisticated Content Marketing

>>While this deal is small, it signals that the Expedia-backed hotel-search company wants to better identify the desires of its customers and become more sophisticated at proposing tailor-made offers that are relevant: Trivago Makes a Tech Acquisition That Bolsters an Industry Trend

>>Blockchain and China are both areas that investors find interesting, but blockchain requires a long-term view and China is really tough, especially domestically. Meanwhile, investors are pouring money into artificial intelligence and virtual reality, and are trying to sort out which travel startups working in these fields will make it to the finish line: Travel Startup Money Is Flowing But the Road to an Exit Is More Distant

>>Since 2016, the quiet wholesaler marketplaces for hotel supply have become noisy as private equity firms invested $2.9 billion to make Hotelbeds Group a market leader. Expect more consolidation: Hotelbeds Eyes a Viable Wholesaler Path in the Shadows of Priceline and Expedia

>>The first iteration of this technology could be glitchy, but the ability to translate your speech into 40 languages could turn out to be something of a true killer app for the travel industry: Google’s New Earbuds With Real-Time Translation Have Huge Implications for Travel

>>It looks like Airbnb is experiencing a huge upswing in mobile adoption. But traditional search engines and social networks are still driving consumers to travel sites on desktop, too: Airbnb Was Most-Installed Travel App in September

>>Groupon may have its struggles and many similar sites have gone out of business, but travel flash sales have a stubborn persistence — even if they would probably get additional traction in more perilous economic times: Secret Escapes Raises $111 Million in a Flash Sales Revival: Travel Startup Funding This Week

>>With this deal, the Madrid-based technology giant has scored another win in North America, after having finished moving Southwest Airlines to Amadeus’ reservations platform earlier this year: Amadeus Wins Air Canada Contract as It Digs In Deeper in North America