Travel Advisor Innovation Report: South African Agents Build Trips for the Untraveled

Finding ways to serve the particular needs of your own peer group can be a powerful strategy for travel advisors. Two enterprising, young, black South Africans did just that by turning their own love of traveling, particularly within their own fascinating country, into a business. Rarely encountering people like themselves on the road, they turned to social media to inspire other black South Africans to get out and explore. Out of this came Traveling Cheapskates.

A world away in San Diego, a travel advisor was finding that in her peer group, seniors were often canceling or not booking trips because they lacked someone to travel with. To remedy this, Pat Hager founded a site called Senior Travel Buddy designed to put solo travelers in touch with each other.

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— Maria Lenhart, Travel Advisor Editor

Featured Stories

Young Black South African Agents Inspire Their Peers to Travel: Personal experience counts when it comes to encouraging young black South Africans to pack their suitcases and discover their own country, say the co-founders of Traveling Cheapskates. The co-founders feel like they intimately understand their customers.

Travel Specialist Develops a Buddy System for Seniors on Vacation: Senior travel is a lucrative and growing segment, but many seniors stay home because they don’t want to go solo. A travel advisor’s new matching site for seniors is a modest solution.

Cruise Trade Group Taps Political Insider as New CEO: The incoming Cruise Lines International Association CEO knows her way around Washington, D.C. and has a background in travel and tourism. That should be enough for a good start, but the cruise industry is complicated enough that she’ll have plenty of work ahead.

Instagram Helps Shape New Honeymoon Experiences: Well-heeled newlyweds are hoofing to destinations far beyond the beach for their honeymoons these days. Influenced by Instagram and luxury travel advisors, couples with means are looking for more meaningful, adventure-filled, post-wedding getaways.

Hotels, Cruise, Airlines and Tourism

What Marriott’s Data Breach Means for the Hotel Giant and Guests: Starwood Preferred Guest elite members thought that not getting full stay credits would be the absolute worst of this mega-merger. However …

6 Ways Celebrity Edge Is Changing the Game for the Cruise Industry: Celebrity Cruises wanted its newest ship to be transformational for the brand and for the cruise industry. With reimagined staterooms, technology, and even hot tubs, the cruise line is following through on that goal.

Frontier Owner to Invest in Wow Air as Creditors Lose Patience: Wow Air has delighted passengers with low fares since 2011. But its creditors have not been as happy. Will that change if this investment goes through?

U.S. Hotel Occupancy Projected to Hit New Record in 2019 Despite Recent Softness: Bottom line for hotels? They haven’t hit the top in terms of growth just yet, and probably won’t for at least another year or two. Let the good times roll.

Alaska Airlines Hints It May Finally Join the Oneworld Alliance: Alaska Airlines is evolving its business as it tries to think more globally. But unlike Canada’s WestJet, which went out and bought Boeing 787s, Alaska is thinking much more prudently. That’s probably the right move.

What the Latest Brexit Agreement Means for Travel and Tourism: The United Kingdom and European Union have finally agreed on a Brexit deal — but the drama isn’t over yet. The UK parliament still needs to give its approval and at the moment, that isn’t looking likely.

Skift Travel Advisor Editor Maria Lenhart [mbl@skift.com] curates the Skift Travel Advisor Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Tuesday. Have a story idea? Or a juicy news tip? Want to share a memo? Send her an email.