Seth Borko

The Skift Travel 200 stock index will be the first benchmark to capture the $1 trillion-plus market for public travel stocks. It brings the travel industry to you in a single number.

What's the final verdict on Q2 travel earnings? Growth remains robust with a strong assist from Asia. But the industry is clearly slowing as travel demand normalizes and pent-up demand exhausts itself.

Cash levels have stayed higher than many economists feared and that has supported a surge in travel. But the trend points to more traditional spending patterns.

Vacasa is a leader in brand building within the short-term rental space, but Skift Research estimates it still relies heavily on third-party booking sites, like Airbnb, for the majority of sales. Management surely hopes to become a majority first-party business – and to earn the margin benefits that follow.

Travel sticker shock is giving way to anger for many consumers. But the inflation data suggests that most hoteliers have raised prices in-line with their rising costs rather than capturing excess profits.

Vacasa, like the short-term rental sector overall, is coming off of a pandemic-fueled growth spree and faces the question of what comes next. Can Vacasa tap into first-party growth while scaling back cash-intensive investments? With investor patience running thin, the clock is ticking.

Generative AI is poised to transform the travel industry. True, there’s plenty of hype out there. But even after Skift Research separates the chaff from the wheat, we find that a multi-billion dollar opportunity still remains.

Are the channel wars coming back? The pandemic brought a wave of direct bookings but our latest survey data suggests that this trend may not last. Plus, we find surprising shifts in booking site usage and share among American travelers.

The new year will give no rest to a weary travel industry. After years of work to dig out of the hole the pandemic put us in, travel in 2023 may find that the hardest part still lies ahead. The groundwork for growth is in place but achieving success will be no simple task.

Travel is back in full swing and Expedia Group and Booking Holdings are now fully recovered versus the pandemic. But under the hood, big changes are underway as these two booking sites revamp their strategies for the future.