Rafat Ali

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News Blog

The Biggest Missing Ingredient for True Accessibility in the Airline Business

A great talk by Michael Swiatek, the chief strategy and planning officer at Avianca, who happens to be legally blind. Michael has worked in the airline industry for almost 30 years and spends part of his time raising awareness about the importance of accessibility in travel. He travels frequently for work and believes that the…

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

News Blog

The Disconnect Between the Top Global Risks and the Travel Industry

The annual Global Risks Report, from the World Economic Forum, is here as Davos starts, and this summary chart below of top 10 short-term and long-term risks is fascinating, almost all of them have direct implications in travel, for many of these the travel industry is, in some part, one of the underlying causes of…

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

Tourism

In a Huge Win, U.S. to Finally Have a Secretary-Level Position for Tourism

Having an advocate at the top level of government is a big win for the U.S. travel industry, as is the more metrics-based approach this new assistant secretary at the Commerce Department will take to help increase visitation and streamline visa issues, amongst others.

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

In a Huge Win, U.S. to Finally Have a Secretary-Level Position for Tourism

Travel Technology

Generative AI Is the Travel Industry’s Future, Get Used to It

To get an understanding of why there is so much buzz about generative AI and what this means for the travel industry and travelers, Skift CEO Rafat Ali talked to analyst and author David Mattin.

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

Generative AI Is the Travel Industry’s Future, Get Used to It

Travel Technology

The Dawn of AI in Travel – and in Our Daily Lives – Suddenly Became Very Real This Weekend

The use cases of artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily lives, both personal and professional, just exploded exponentially. Worth thinking through, reading, and experimenting as much possible for the travel sector.

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

The Dawn of AI in Travel – and in Our Daily Lives – Suddenly Became Very Real This Weekend

News Blog

Oyo Hits Reorg Button: Lays Off 600 Employees Across Tech and Product

Oyo, in preparation for its upcoming IPO in 2023, is doing a major reorg of its organizational structure and cost base. It has announced it is letting go of 600 employees out of a total of about 3700, mostly in its product and tech teams. From the company: "Oyo is downsizing its product and engineering,…

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

News Blog

Tahiti Proposes to Limit Tourism Numbers to One Tourist Per Inhabitant

Tahiti, part of the French Polynesia and its 120 sister islands is proposing to limit the number of tourists it takes to about one tourist per inhabitant, according to a new sustainability focused "slow-tourism" five year plan, reports Radio New Zealand. The head of Tahiti Tourisme Jean-Marc Mocellin said that they are proposing setting a…

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

News Blog

Disney Cutting Business Travel and Meetings-Related Travel After Belt Tightening

The first tremors of economic slowdown are beginning to be felt in the travel industry: even though Disney Parks had a record quarter, the overall parent company had a disappointing quarter in its other businesses and is now planning a hiring freeze, job cuts and other expense cuts. As part of that, CNBC reports that…

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

News Blog

Americans Traveling to Turkey Are at All-Time Highs

No, you weren't just imagining your social media timelines full of all your friends posting from Istanbul and Turkey this summer. It happened to be true. According to latest data from European Travel Commission, visitor arrivals from U.S. to Turkey for the first nine months of this year have been up 61.1 percent from equivalent…

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago

News Blog

The Short Booking Window Is Not Only Holding Strong, It Is Increasing Share

The short booking travel booking windows that became the predominant mode of booking in the pandemic -- for obvious reasons with lots of uncertainty around Covid & travel plan -- are holding strong and in fact increasing in the 0-21 days window, according to the latest quarterly data from Expedia Media Solutions. Globally, the 0-…

Rafat Ali | 1 year ago