Articles tagged “maps”

Stock markets, at their best, can be hype killers, and public investors shot down many inflated private company valuations in 2021. This may be a sobering development for IPO and SPAC wannabes in 2022.

No big surprises on Google Maps, but Booking.com outpaced rival Airbnb in downloads in the online travel agency category globally by nearly 20 million in 2021. That's not a game-changer, but it's important if Booking is going to eat into Airbnb's daunting direct-booking advantage.

When we officially launched Skift on July 30, 2012, we couldn't have envisioned the insanity and tragedy of 2020 and 2021. But we got through it as a company, and much of the global travel industry, licking its wounds, has likewise proved to be as adaptable as the circumstances demand.

Google's advertising revenue and profits skyrocketed during the fourth quarter — although travel industry spend didn't drive the results. As with other industries, travel advertisers will likely flock to YouTube for brand promotions when demand returns.

Business travel is often dreaded by perpetual road warriors, but that’s not true for Valentina Frassi. Except when there's a pandemic, Frassi travels the world recording iconic scenes of major landmarks that most people can only dream of seeing.

Hawaii, with its isolated location, fragile ecosystem, and deep-rooted local culture, faces even more problems with overtourism than most popular destinations do. Tourism marketers are looking at ways to manage the situation, but it's a huge challenge.

Closing islands for a rehab seems fashionable in Southeast Asia. It shouldn’t be. Authorities must first assess options carefully, and by no means should premature announcements be made. Just look at the Komodo Island example and the wrong messages Indonesia has sent about one of its most unique tourism assets.

When you're Google, you can take more than a decade to hone a product such as Google Maps and attract more than a billion users without having to worry that it isn't making lots of money. But the monetization of Google Maps will soon start in earnest, and travel marketers, for the most part, will hustle to get in.

It will be fascinating to see whether consumers embrace booking various elements of travel using Google Assistant. Perhaps more interesting is the way that Google Maps has become an all-purpose superapp in recent years.

Google is eating the world. When metasearch sites such as Trivago see a strategic benefit in increasing their advertising in Google metasearch, it's not only enough to make your head spin, but it's ominous from a competitive standpoint, as well.