Skift Take
In Skift's top travel stories this week, we looked at what a recovering travel industry should expect from the return of American tourists, how the tourism industry should measure its success now and into the future, and why JetBlue definitely thinks of itself as more than just an airline now.
Throughout the week we are posting original stories night and day covering news and travel trends, including the impact of coronavirus. Every weekend we will offer you a chance to read the most essential stories again in case you missed them earlier.
The Reputation of the Ugly American Tourist Won’t Be Easy to Shake: If tourists from the United States are unofficial ambassadors to the world, then the worst among them are ensuring that local residents will resent them and more destinations will erect barriers to entry.
Hotels Switch to Next-Gen Tech to Sell Rooms Via Online Partnerss: It’s taken years for hotels to adopt an array of new technologies and business practices to improve selling travel online. The metaphor is like shaking a bottle of ketchup. Little appears until a lot suddenly comes out. Similarly, hotel digital innovation may come rapidly after a long wait.
Why Tourism Desperately Needs a New Performance Metric Post-Pandemic: After a year that stripped bare the inadequacy of tourism’s success metrics, how will the industry measure “building back better”? Before it answers that question, there needs to be an industrywide reckoning of tourism’s root problem.
Thai Tourism Heavyweights Willing to Front Vaccine Costs to Push Government to Reopen: Thai tourism players are pinning hopes on a soft tourism opening in Phuket to bring back international travelers. May the so-called “tourism sandbox” model be more solid than a castle in the sand.
Innovation Propelled the Travel Sector Forward Despite the Revenue Collapse: The travel sector couldn’t afford to lose money on efforts done merely to appear innovative for social media optics. So the companies and destinations rediscovered innovation’s original spirit. They focused on lasting boosts to operational performance and traveler satisfaction.
The 100 Virtual Work Startups Disrupting And Substituting Business Travel: Virtual work startups are expecting a decline in travel for work across direct impact categories. But how can software be used as complementary to business travel instead of as a replacement?
What Tourism Can Learn From Chile’s Setback Amid Record Vaccination Rates: Vaccine success is already boosting the economy and consumer confidence in Chile. But another Covid surge shows that a cautious approach in tourism recovery efforts is imperative alongside the vaccination race.
The Hotel Companies Most Friendly to the Environment: New Skift Research: Carbon reduction is gaining importance for stakeholders, and reporting is getting better amongst the largest hotel companies. Skift Research compares the emissions of six global chains to determine which is best positioned to become carbon neutral over the coming decades, and which are falling behind.
JetBlue’s Travel Tech Ambitions Take Step Forward With New Broader Booking Site: JetBlue is pushing ahead with becoming a travel tech company by launching Paisly. But the question remains whether an airline can become a more diverse travel company in the crowded online travel agency field.
Tourism in U.S. Chinatowns Hit Hard by Racism and Pandemic: Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the number of hate crimes committed against Asian Americans has increased exponentially. Covid-19 and racism have combined to cripple tourism and local businesses in Chinatowns across the United States.
The Daily Newsletter
Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.
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Tags: chile, hotels, jetblue airways, thailand, tourism
Photo credit: With travel starting to pick, it's inevitable that the long-held reputation of ugly American tourists will resume. joegolby / Getty