The Skift Travel Podcast

Uber's CEO doesn't want to offer a super app for everything, but he believes his company is in the best position to bring consumers anything they need, from rides, to food, to medicine, and more. “Anything you want to be delivered to your home with a frequent use case, that’s what we’ll offer,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, at Skift Global Forum, in conversation with Skift executive editor Dennis Schaal. Listen now for the full interview. Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Thanks for listening to the Skift Podcast. We have another podcast you can listen to every weekday morning. The Skift Daily Briefing podcast delivers the day's top headlines in under four minutes. Search for "Skift Daily Briefing" in your favorite podcast app to listen and subscribe. Here's the latest episode: Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, January 6, in New York City. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. The travel industry faces numerous critical issues in the new year as many destinations grapple with the damage brought forth by Covid and its variants. Yet, six underappreciated storylines will define 2022 in travel, says Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali in a special episode of the Skift Podcast. One of those underappreciated storylines, Ali says, is destinations such as the United States, Latin America and Dubai deciding to remain open to tourism despite the emergence of Omicron, developments that will have enormous implications for their economies. Ali adds another storyline to keep on is Chinese travelers, saying that visitors from the world’s most populous country will not be the economic force they were pre-pandemic as China becomes more isolationist. Next, corporate travel — a sector devastated by the pandemic — is still expected to struggle to reach to pre-Covid travel volumes in 2022 as video conferencing continues to replace large amounts of travel. However, some businesses operating in the sector are managing to attract investors, reports Corporate Travel Editor Matthew Parsons. One such company is the world’s largest corporate travel agency, American Express Global Business Travel, which estimated it may only see corporate travel levels reach 70 percent of pre-pandemic figures. Amex GBT could see its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange in the first half of this year if a planned merger with blank check company Apollo Strategic Growth Capital goes ahead. A venture capital executive told Skift that more investment firms are focused on the travel recovery and possible investment returns, adding that despite the general belief that corporate travel won’t return to 2019 levels, a travel recovery above the 70 percent pre-pandemic figure projected by Amex GBT will be a boon for investors. We end today in Barbados. The Caribbean nation is home to a new online travel booking platform that’s working to create new revenue streams for its tourism businesses, writes Global Tourism Reporter Lebawait Lily Girma. It is unusual in that it was launched by a destination itself. BookBarbados.com — which was launched at the end of 2021 — is a privately funded and owned online travel booking platform that allows users to make reservations for hotel stays, Airbnb rentals, and local tours in one place. It also aims to solve a problem several Caribbean countries have faced during the pandemic — delayed payments from major international tour operators. Close to 70 percent of hotels in the region had reported being owed significant amounts of money by May 2020. The platform’s future goals include offering cruise booking for ships sailing out of Barbados as well as other services visitors to the country might seek, such as a personal trainer. Peter Harris, the website’s founder, said he aims to expand the BookBarbados.com model to other Caribbean locations. For more travel stories and deep dives into the latest trends, head to skift.com. To find these stories and more insight into the business of travel, subscribe to Skift daily newsletter at skift.com/daily.

Skift CEO Rafat Ali explains the underappreciated storylines from the last year that will continue to define the travel industry in 2022. The United States, Latin America, and Dubai will remain open by prioritizing keeping their economies open over everything else. Outdoor is now a permanent and premium part of the leisure and business travel industries.  Basing a strategy based on Chinese travelers even post pandemic is foolhardy, as a China turns inwards and isolationist. Tour operators remain the most devastated sector in travel and will remain so in 2022. As an asset class for investors this sector will remain troubled, unless most pivot to independent, customized tours versus group fixed-date tours. Booking windows may have permanently shortened and financial products that introduce flexibility will help players stand out. Exciting as a sector and lot more innovation and investment to come. Labor turmoil will continue in 2022, with higher wages all across the board and turnover of top ranks to continue. This will be a lot more than just transitory over next couple of years. For more insights into the business of travel, visit skift.com/news.

New Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan said that he sees 2022 as another “transition” year in the recovery. He is optimistic that business travelers will return — his predecessor has said this may take 5-10 years — but does not expect this to occur overnight. “I’m an optimistic guy,” said Jordan. “I’m very optimistic that we’re going to get the travel back," said Robert Jordan, incoming CEO of Southwest Airlines, at Skift Global Forum, in conversation with Airline Weekly editor Madhu Unnikrishnan. Listen now for the full interview. Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Skift Research’s Online Travel Agency Factbook is your one-stop shop to understand the global universe of online booking sites. We collected data on and built individual profiles for the 11 largest publicly traded online travel agencies. We analyzed the scale, revenue, growth, profitability, historical performance, and customer acquisition ability of each OTA. Join Skift founding editor Dennis Schaal and Skift Research Senior Analyst Seth Borko as they discuss the report's findings and what they mean for companies including Airbnb, Booking, Expedia, and more in 2022. For more insights into the business of travel, visit skift.com/news.

Clear's previous experience vetting travelers and moving them quickly through airport security put it in an excellent position to take on the challenges of identity, health, and vaccination in the (hopefully) coming post-Covid panic world. "Cyber and privacy and data security are in our roots, but also we have a brand that’s continually communicating about privacy, data security and what we’re doing," said CLEAR CEO Caryn Seidman Becker while speaking with Skift Senior Travel Tech Editor Sean O’Neill at Skift Global Forum 2021. Listen now for the full interview. Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Cancellations and closures are on the rise as countries react to the Omicron variant. What does this mean for a recently optimistic travel industry? This special episode of the Skift Podcast features Skift founder and CEO, Rafat Ali, looking ahead to early 2022 and what impact the Omicron variant may have on the travel industry. Read more about travel and coronavirus at https://skift.com/coronavirus.

Hopper has big plans ahead in its ongoing mission to continue being the best at lowering the cost of travel for consumers — it’s betting on the future of superapps for travel, which are already popular in Asia. “There will be a Western global superapp for travel — it may be owned by Google, Facebook or Alibaba, but it will be a superapp and we’re trying to become that,” said Frederic Lalonde, CEO of Hopper, at Skift Global Forum, in conversation with Skift founding editor Dennis Schaal. Listen now for the full interview. Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky acknowledged that enough affordable housing is a major challenge but argued that the new flexible nature of work wrought by the pandemic will see people migrating to city corridors and other less-dense locales where residences can be less expensive. In a fireside chat Tuesday with Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali at the opening event for Skift Global Forum 2021, Chesky said previously people needed to live in a certain city to work but with remote working taking hold people have more options. Listen now for the full interview with Skift CEO Rafat Ali.  Read more coverage of the travel industry at skift.com/news

Like many airline chiefs, Doug Parker is “bullish” on the future, particularly after a surge in demand for transatlantic flights after the travel ban lifted on Nov. 8. But American Airlines is poised to begin 2022 as a larger airline — despite labor woes. Speaking at Skift Aviation Forum on November 17, 2021, Parker said business travel will return to 2019 levels, at some point. Listen now for the full interview with Skift Airline Weekly Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan.  Read more coverage of the airlines industry at skift.com/airlines