Skift Travel Megatrends 2021

In a push-and-pull scenario, short-term rentals are even more of a mainstream option in 2025 despite cities around the world increasingly regulating their growth.

Liquidity was the lifeline for the strongest travel companies coming out of the pandemic, and the best managements could financially engineer their ways through the crisis. Weaker companies with fewer resources sold assets at steep discounts, and dropped out.

With prospects for winning the planet’s climate change confrontation after the horrific pandemic not appreciably improved in 2025, the travel industry and travelers rethink their operations and the way they wander the globe, respectively. Fear is a fantastic motivator.

Corporate travel planners and event bookers hold the key to the financial fate for much of the hotel industry. But struggling hotel owners who made it to the other side of the pandemic were likely to see greater profits because of supply constraints and many weaker competitors succumbed.

For this year's installment of our annual Megatrends, we look far into the future to better explain where the travel industry is headed after one of the most challenging years in recent history.

In order to approach the same level of quality and engagement as in-person experiences, virtual and hybrid events need to be designed with safety and innovation as guiding principles. Event planners need an agile, forward-thinking destination partner to deliver on ever-changing attendee expectations.

Successful brands demonstrate high levels of resilience during economic and business cycles. With fewer barriers, limitations, and investments in brand-wide standardizations, lifestyle hospitality brands are able to pivot more quickly in the face of today’s challenges.

The Covid-19 pandemic proved that brands that are able to quickly evolve their offerings to meet the shifting needs of customers are the ones that will not only survive, but come out stronger through their ability to adapt. The importance of embracing agility is one lesson brands can take into 2021 and beyond.

This year's Megatrends looks ahead past the pandemic to envision the lasting trends and consumer habits that will impact the travel industry. Join editors and research analysts as they dissect what the business of travel might look like in 2025.