Tom Lowry

After nearly a year in lockdown, the Skift team has had some time to dream about traveling again. Some 2021 goals are big, some more modest, but when it's safe to go, all those experiences will make us appreciate even more what we have all missed.

In a year when the pandemic defined our coverage for its devastation to travel and, yes, at times, its opportunities, we asked Skift’s tireless reporters and editors to pick their favorite stories from 2020. Here’s an inside look at how those stories came to be, how they were reported, and what it was like to chronicle a year that none of us will ever forget.

It's difficult to pinpoint dates when a crisis has enveloped your industry, but here's 25 to help understand the year travel has endured.

Hygiene theater. Pivot. Revenge travel, and many more. It looks like it's going to take a lot more than a pandemic to end the travel industry's love of pithy, jargony buzzwords and phrases.

Striking a balance between the need for tourist dollars and protecting fragile ecosystems and sacred sites is a growing challenge, particularly in the American West. The pandemic has driven people to the great outdoors. Catch up with some innovative ideas here that are addressing these concerns.

Investor, corporate director, company founder and the former CEO of Thomson Reuters, Tom Glocer shares his thoughts about the return of corporate travel, and what grounded executives like himself have learned from the stillness of this past year.

One silver lining of the pandemic may be that the tensions between short-term rental companies and cities and regulators may be easing as both sides look to revive business in these extraordinary times.

Airbnb advisor Chip Conley had some grounding messages about the company he has seen grow into a force in travel. Never forget the original mission on which the homesharing giant was launched. It hasn't, says Conley.

We've all read about how careful airlines are being with new cleanliness and air filtration measures. But Bill Lentsch pull backs the veil to offer an insider's glimpse of how Delta Air Lines has made those decisions, juggling customer anxieties, medical expertise and the realities of marketing safety.

Steven Udvar-Házy started his career in aviation out of the trunk of his 1956 Oldsmobile while working as lifeguard in Los Angeles. Today, decades later, he has a unique view of his beloved industry. His prediction for airlines: Growth will be moderate for the next 18 to 24 months but airline travel will get back to be double GDP growth. "I don’t think there’s any way to really stop that."