“The only value of a prophet is to make the fortune teller look good”—— Warren Buffett
beware.
special thanks Zoffi Sponsor this newsletter:
Looking for a 100% travel specialist engineering partner or to support your in-house development or design team? Zoftify helps travel brands modernize their digital products and ship faster.
take a look at our Conversion rate optimization Serve. Make an appointment for consultation And get a free mini UX and CRO snapshot of your platform and get 3 quick wins.
Now, the usual suspects are preparing to release their groundbreaking 2026 megatrends report. New year, same trend. Here they come:
-
Sustainable travel. Pay more to feel bad, then pay more to feel good about feeling bad.
-
The End of OTAs: For the 14th consecutive year.
-
AI: Your new travel agent will now judge your life choices and book you on a 10-day vow of silence in Bhutan because you looked nervous.
-
Loyalty: The Stockholm syndrome of gamification. Earn money to restore the basic benefits you previously received for free.
-
Personalization: The algorithm notices that you like the hotel. Now it will show you more hotels.
-
Off-the-beaten-path luxury: A private jet to a secret cove has been tagged 4.7 million times on Instagram by those who warn you against overtourism.
-
Overtourism: The loudest voices come from influencers on their fourth trip to Bali this year, and digital nomads who moved to Barcelona last Tuesday and want the tourists to leave.
-
Slow travel: luxury trains, boutique cruises, electric bikes, walking, the slower the better, while explaining the plane.
-
Bleisure Nomadism: Nothing says freedom like WiFi-dependent serfdom
-
Experiential travel: Deep connection, live broadcast to strangers while chasing the Northern Lights
-
HEALTH: Expensive mud baths, mushroom rituals and sound healing are now rebranded as “mitochondrial rearrangement.”
-
Live event tourism: sports, music festivals, eclipses, parties…basically just take your passport and let the cat out.
-
Luxury cabin: It’s nice to spend 40% more to live somewhere far away from you and then post a black and white scroll titled “This used to be paradise before everyone came here.”
-
Connected Travel: Although it is now renamed “Agent Experience Environment”.
My personal big trend for 2026 is 2020 nostalgia travel – stay home and avoid the wrath of carbon shaming and overtourism. Who is with me?
This Wall Street Journal article Proof that food is the most underrated souvenir. Instead of buying junk that will be thrown away in a year, travelers are bringing home ingredients from local supermarkets and hosting dinner parties to share the experience. It also reflects a clear behavioral shift: 40% of travelers now make it a point to visit grocery stores abroad, and 44% go out of their way to find food they can’t find at home. The TikTok grocery guide has now racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
The article highlights examples such as hot sauce from Belize, cloudberry jam from Norway, barley rusk croutons from Greece, chili flakes from Spain, Portuguese sardines and Japanese matcha… as well as some practical tips for packaging, cooking and gift-giving.
If you're visiting New Orleans, here are some items you'll need to bring Home with you…
Greg Isenberg’s 2026 Predictions is my kind of thing: actionable and based on what the builder is already trying. Some already exist (agents with crypto wallets), but many will be immediately useful if you are developing lightweight tools, agent workflows, or new consumer interfaces. Here are some prominent examples and their impact on travel:
-
Micro-companies built around agencies serving niche communities can open up new avenues for solo founders…think destination-specific concierge agents or personalized travel planning tools.
-
Search is replaced by answer synthesis. A browser that reads 50 sources and returns a single output will reshape the way people find and book. The travel planning channel may be up for grabs.
-
Disposable software. A one-time application that exists for one trip, event, or experience. Useful for short-term events or personalized services.
-
Agency operated media. Daily travel digests, hotel content or local guides are produced in-house or solely by human editors.
-
Invitation-only site. As trust and reputation become scarce online, curated closed ecosystems become more valuable. There are many implications for the market and discovery layer.
More of Greg's work. He's put together a tactical guide to help you launch an AI startup in 3 hours for less than $500. The playbook relies heavily on off-the-shelf AI agents to handle everything from product ideation to coding and sales operations. It's built around a 5-step workflow:
-
Find the right idea/trend using the tools below ideabrowser.com
-
outline the idea draw
-
send it in Manus Determine the scope and structure of your MVP
-
use New Bolt (code generation tool) Build a working prototype
-
Build automated lead generation and sales agents Lindy
Greg's Full breakdown here
If you ask for an investor presentation, make it easy for both the person forwarding the email and the investor to decide whether it's worth their time. This one is transparent and has no fluff Directed by David Boothwho has written explosive articles about “featured startups” on AngelList and has helped connect thousands of founders. He breaks down exactly what to send, how to structure it, and what to leave out. This is the format he recommends:
-
Send a new email with the subject line: “Introduction: [your name (company)] [name of investor you want to meet]
-
Start with a brief note, such as “Thank you for introducing me to [one clear reason…specific to their thesis, past investments, etc.]”
-
Four bullets (per sentence):
-
What you do and the problems you are solving
-
What is attractive about you, or why it works
-
Team members and why they are a good fit for this project
-
Fundraising status (funds you have raised, funds committed, past investors, etc.)
-
If the bullet is strong, there is no need to attach a deck. Just send after introduction. The goal is to make it easier for others to help you while giving investors enough context to decide whether it's worth having a conversation.
This new report from McKinsey (Private Equity as a Framework) is also a useful map showing the emergence of consumer demand and infrastructure gaps in the travel industry. It covers three major shifts: experiential travel, luxury demand and technology integration. There are a few points worth mentioning:
-
Since the 1990s, discretionary spending in the US has been steadily shifting towards experiences rather than goods (see chart), with travel taking an ever-increasing share of wallets and growing interest in categories such as adventure, gastronomic travel, wellness and nighttime activities (Northern Lights, night safaris…). More than 60% of travelers want to explore lesser-known attractions.
-
Luxury goods are expanding. High-net-worth travelers are younger and more global, and they show a strong preference for multi-leg, high-touch travel, often blending luxury with adventure or wellness. From 2015 to 2025, the compound annual growth rate of luxury travel in North America is 12%, while the compound annual growth rate of the entire industry is 3%.
-
Planning behavior is changing rapidly. 29% of consumers have used gen AI for some part of their travel planning, and AI-driven recommendations have shown a 45% reduction in bounce rates on travel sites, indicating greater user intent and trust.
-
Infrastructure lags behind demand. There are about 210,000 yachts in the world, but there are only about 160,000 marina berths, and marinas only add 300 berths every 5-10 years. The disparity is most pronounced in the Mediterranean region. Similar friction exists on expedition cruises. Founders building around logistics, services or technology in these categories may benefit from this mismatch.
-
Live event tours. Nearly one in five travelers now plans to travel around a concert or sporting event. There are growing opportunities for bundling around these events, and some brands are already building hotel offerings around this behavior.
Not going to share too much academic research in this newsletter (I usually like things that are more realistic and market tested), but “When rewards connect with self: Unleashing customer engagement through experiential rewards“ When I saw this in studies by researchers at Michigan State University, San Diego State University, and the University of Alabama, it stood out. science theory communication.
Across six studies (four in the lab and two in the field), they found that even small experiential rewards consistently led to greater engagement than material rewards. This includes more word-of-mouth, stronger loyalty, more redemptions, and more spend before and after rewards.
People view experiences as part of their identity, not just a transaction. This makes them feel closer to your brand. The experience is more personalized and leads to better results. The value of a reward lies more in the connection it creates than its size.
McKinsey The state of artificial intelligence in 2025 Reports show that adoption is broad but lacks depth. 88% of companies say they use AI, but only a third have scaled AI agents, primarily in the technology, media, healthcare and insurance sectors. Travel ranks lower in this regard. Most companies are still in experimentation and pilot mode.
High performers (top 6%) are treated differently:
-
55% redesigned work processes (20% of non-high performers)
-
82% of respondents have set growth targets for AI use (vs. 50%)
-
50% of respondents intend to use AI for enterprise-wide change (vs. 14%)
-
35% of respondents devote more than 20% of their digital budget to AI (vs. 7%)
-
3x more likely to have senior leaders personally responsible for AI
according to this article By Mario Gavira The court case between Amazon and Perplexity may be one of the most important legal battles for the future of online commerce and travel.
The key is whether the AI agent has the legal right to act as a digital agent for consumers. In other words, can they browse, compare and book on your behalf without permission from the website they interact with?
This article outlines two different scenarios, depending on who wins:
-
If Amazon wins, the current OTA, metasearch, and vendor partnership ecosystem will remain “protected,” but AI agents will have to go through formal partnerships and gated APIs. Some kind of certified agent.
-
If confusion wins, we enter a network of free-roaming, proxies. AI agents can crawl and transact independently, potentially decoupling OTAs while reshaping how inventory is found and booked.
There are still some openings in 2026. If you are looking to reach a focused audience of travel technology professionals, I recommend filling out This short form soon.
If you are raising a funding round (from Seed to Series D), please fill out your profile on our new platform: travelinvestornetwork.pynn.ai. We’re partnering with Pynn, an AI-powered platform used by venture capital firms, accelerators and innovation hubs to manage deal flow, host events and evaluate startups. You will get a complete profile and may be visible to other investor communities on the platform if you wish.
The new system provides a structured way to showcase your startup and manage visibility to up to 250 active investors. It takes about 5 minutes to complete and helps investors evaluate opportunities more effectively.
We review every submission. Even if we do not follow up directly, your personal information may still be discovered by relevant investors.
→ Explore All 1422 vacancies Currently on the Tourism Technology Essentials Working Committee.
📩 For monthly updates on the latest roles, please subscribe Travel Technology Work Newsletter
If you like Travel Tech Essentialist, please consider sharing it with your friends or colleagues. If you haven't subscribed yet, please join us here:
As always, thank you for trusting my inbox.
Mauricio Prieto
