Media and PR

Seven out of the 10 most popular places are sports stadiums or theme parks making the U.S. list significantly less diverse than the global list of top attractions. It is a clear sign of where Americans' travel priorities lie.

The list is a diverse set of attractions from theme parks and sports stadiums to museums and outdoor sites that shows the breadth of the global tourism industry.

MTA's Flickr page started attracting fans last year with rare photos of an empty city during Hurricane Sandy. It has since chronicled the current-day construction of the NYC transit system, a digital time capsule that will surely be looked at for generations to come.

You need to be quite the master of a narrow niche to make an airfare-focused travel agency work, and AirTreks' around-the-world specialization seems just the thing.

Beyond the ping pong and well-designed interiors is a clear-eyed hotelier who knows both his clientele and where the hotel industry is heading.

Airline brands are way ahead of the game in digital effectiveness in travel, followed by hotel brands. Tourism still has a long way to go, as do other sectors in travel.

Not much of a shocker, such is the state of the legacy magazine business these days.

KLM is the first airline to put a live wait time on its social media pages, but its a feature that airlines serious about social customer service will quickly copy. Hopefully the competition means faster social responses for all flyers.