SkiftX

The "HollandCity" vision capitalizes on the close proximity of Holland's largest urban centers, much like New York City's boroughs, to provide conference organizers with a more holistic overview of the country's major industry clusters.

Sorry, Airbnb. Those who follow the vacation rental business closely had a hunch that the business would be gobbled up by private equity and they were right.

More midsize cities like Calgary are promoting their local industry expertise to attract conferences in high-priority sectors, supported by the surging growth of advanced industries outside the world's gateway cities.

At this stage, we're not exactly sure why eDreams Odigeo might interest Skyscanner/Ctrip. A private equity buyer would seem much more likely.

The smartest travel companies are beginning to buy startups that may not be central to their main businesses or help them consolidate market share, but could boost the innovation metabolism of their motherships.

Ctrip – with the help of some useful allies – continues to dominate China's fast-expanding travel industry. It will be interesting to see whether 2018 brings further expansion into Europe and North America.

Lastminute.com Group's attempt to wean itself off low margin flight-ticket sales gets accelerated with this deal. The relatively low purchase price makes it a relatively risk-free acquisition.

Regionally focused online travel success stories are as rare as rhinos in the wild these days. But this merger of two South African players may help an endangered species — independent-booking players — keep thriving in a market where so much is dominated by the global duopoly, the Priceline Group and Expedia.

Advertising on Facebook is an expanding strategic opportunity for travel brands. That's why travel marketing-tech startup Sojern is nabbing Adphorus, a travel specialist ad tech company in Turkey, as a bridgehead for growth.

We hope this acquisition results in real changes to the Airbnb platform to not only reduce discrimination against travelers with disabilities, but also to verify details about accessible listings and make them much clearer.