Andrew Sheivachman

Tourism Authority of Thailand executives are keen to spread the tourism wealth to its emerging destinations. Encouraging tour operators to offer programs beyond the popular destinations is a noble goal, but are the tour operators listening?

American Express Global Business Travel continues to grow in Europe as consolidation continues apace in corporate travel.

Surveillance capitalism is due for a regulatory comeuppance in the next few years. Travel companies that make the decision to build brands around user privacy now will be ahead of the curve.

Carnival has been talking about the Ocean Medallion for a while now. Expect the technology to be deployed on more ships soon, with new improvements to guest experience in the process.

TripActions now claims to be worth $4 billion after raising nearly half a billion dollars. Raising so much money in such a short time raises questions about competition in the space as it works to scale more quickly than its rivals.

Hotel operators need to invest in new concepts to stand out as sites for meetings and business conferences. Hilton thinks its new ideas will resonate with franchisees, but time will tell if they are willing to make the investment.

Add yet another integration to the docket for American Express Global Business Travel. They have plenty of experience with this by now.

Cruise ships are giant floating hotels with shopping malls and casinos inside. The industry has made progress on sustainability, but much more needs to be done as consumer habits shift toward more sustainable vacation options.

For all the talk of using bracelets and smartphones to improve the cruise experience, more needs to be done to improve internal processes and make cruising more sustainable.

Cvent will continue to leverage its scale and coffers to acquire smaller companies that add value to its platform. As more planners focus on event engagement, snapping up DoubleDutch seems like a wise move.