Rafat Ali

Remote Year was a small but pioneering company, innovating on the edges over the years. Sad to see it come to an end.

Climate-conscious travel doesn’t mean giving up travel; it means evolving it. Climate tech has the same potential – its influence would go beyond incrementally greening individual choices, instead reshaping the entire operational system.

As someone who has devoted all of my life to media, it pains me to say this: consumer travel media, in its current incarnation, is dead. The world has changed, and it’s time for us to move on.

In a market increasingly dominated by efficiency and integration, the long-overlooked airline tech sector might just become the travel industry’s next big story.

Sustainable tourism solutions must not only cut emissions but also recognize and redress the profound imbalances in who gets to travel and who pays the environmental price.

Even though these hospitality concepts are age-old, they are bang in the middle of all the major deeper travel trends and fulfill all the modern traveler’s expectations.

2025 is expected to be a banner year for travel tech M&A. Add-on acquisitions, particularly of companies with $5M-$50M ARR, are poised to set new records as platforms scale up and prepare for IPOs or acquisition by mega-cap firms.

There is a lot that can be done, both from an awareness and, even more importantly, from a policy perspective. Most of it requires changes that the travelers of today, seeking more authentic experiences, would welcome.

Paradoxically, as flying becomes more economically accessible for consumers, airlines find themselves with less financial breathing room.

Tourism shapes what gets cooked, grown, and served. Over time, it even shapes what locals think their own cuisine is.