Patrick Whyte

Negative headlines are likely to put anyone off wanting to travel to the Gambia at least in the short term. How long this lasts depends entirely on when the political crisis in the country is resolved.

While Brexit shouldn't take all the blame for the demise of All Leisure Group, it seems to have played a part. So far the UK economy has confounded economists' expectations but this state of affairs is unlikely to last forever.

There is no CEO at Virgin Holidays, perhaps because of its very close relationship with airline Virgin Atlantic, instead it is led by a Managing Director. The latest changes at the top illustrate just how intertwined the two companies are.

Since the heady days of a stock market floatation in 2007, there has not been much to shout about for All Leisure Group. Like a number of other travel companies, it has not been able to cope with the level of geopolitical upheaval in key destinations. It is unlikely to be the only big travel casualty of 2017.

Even with rumours circulating of an overseas spending clampdown, it looks like Chinese investors will continue to play a big role in the shape of the global hospitality industry in 2017.

It took a while but the hospitality sector has started to take onboard some of the design features that have become mainstays in the food and beverage industry.

This has been the year that Wyndham stepped up its interest in urban rentals. It still lags behind Airbnb in terms of the overall numbers but is banking on its tag-line of "peer-to-peer plus" winning over potential hosts and travelers.

As a private company Airbnb isn't required to publicly disclose much when it comes to its finances. What is clear from analysing the accounts of Airbnb Payments UK Ltd., however, is just how much money is swilling about the company.

EBITDA is a pretty useless at telling you anything about the real profitability of a company. We’ll have to wait until it publishes audited accounts sometime next year.

TUI’s evolution to that of an end-to-end travel provider is set to accelerate next year. It is fast becoming a tourism company in a class of its own.