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Future of tourism

Where the industry is heading: new distribution models, traveller behaviour and the decisions that have to be made today.

Future of tourism

The Booking paradox: record revenue, falling profit

Booking closed 2025 with record revenue of 22.82 billion euros (+13.4%) and a net profit 8% lower (4.58 billion), according to its official results. The causes: 770 million extra in marketing — mostly Google — and a 388-million write-down of its metasearch engine Kayak, damaged by AI search. The OTA that charges hotels commissions pays, in turn, a structural toll to Google, just as Google starts competing with it.

3 min read

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Future of tourism

The hotel AI cases with ROI you can actually believe

Hotel AI cases with results verified by independent sources can be counted on one hand: Wyndham (−25% handling time across its AI toolset, quarterly results, 2025), Hyatt (almost +20% group sales productivity, stated in its own 2026 results) and Hotel Tech Report's revenue benchmarks (+15-20% RevPAR, across more than 4,800 hoteliers). Almost everything else is vendor data: quotable, but with a label.

4 min read

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Future of tourism

19 months that changed travel booking: a timeline

Between January 2025 and August 2026, AI travel booking went from demo to reality: Booking and Expedia apps inside ChatGPT, the first flight booked entirely in a chat (Mindtrip with Sabre and PayPal, May 2026), OpenAI's checkout retreat and a Google hotel booking test in AI Mode. The lesson of so many twists: the real battle is not who charges for the sale, but who controls discovery — and OpenAI is already monetising it with ads.

5 min read

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Future of tourism

Will AI destroy tourism jobs? What the data says

Documented AI-driven job cuts in tourism have so far hit corporate and support roles — Accor expects AI to replace up to 40% of its office jobs, Mews laid off 15% of staff — while customer-facing employment holds up: travel agent was Spain's fastest-growing profession according to LinkedIn (2025), though it no longer appears on the 2026 list. There is no single narrative: there are three at once.

4 min read

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Future of tourism

90% plan their trip with AI. Only 2% let it pay

Around 90% of consumers want to plan trips with AI, but only 2% to 7% would let it book and pay autonomously, as Booking.com, Skift, McKinsey and Accenture all found in 2026. The gap is not technological but one of trust: AI still cannot guarantee verified data or answer for mistakes when something goes wrong.

4 min read

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