My Four Favorite Charts From State of Travel 2026

Hello Research Friends,

I am excited to share with you my favorite report of the year, Skift Research’s annual State of Travel 2026. Given that it’s peak summer here in the U.S., this report is best enjoyed over a cold beverage or near a body of water.

Don’t be put off by its size: packed full of 150+ charts covering (almost) everything you need to know about the modern travel industry, the State of Travel is a must-read no matter where you sit within the industry. This is your guide to how to read this year’s report and a peek at my four favorite charts. 

New This Year: The Travel Stack

This year, we created a new travel intelligence framework: the travel stack. We identified four universal layers that apply to the entire $11 trillion travel industry.

Each layer within the report has relevant data and trends backed by the best thinking from across Skift. Although the structure has been refreshed this year, the goal of State of Travel remains the same: to arm you with the best possible travel intelligence, so that you can make the best possible decisions about the future of your business.

Choosing a favorite child isn’t easy but here are my four favorite charts from this year’s State of Travel. One from each layer of the travel stack.

Consumer: Visa Liberationalization Unlocks the Next Billion Travelers

If you live in the U.S. or Europe, it’s easy to take for granted your right to roam abroad. We are holders of some of the most powerful passports in the world and access to a foreign country is usually a given. That’s not true for billions of other prospective travelers who need to jump through a series of bureaucratic hoops and pay a not insignificant sum before heading overseas. 

That’s why visa-free tourist agreements are such powerful drivers of global tourism flows. As data from the Henley Passport index show, today the average country’s passport entitles its holder to travel to 92 destinations visa-free. Twenty years ago, that figure was just 46 countries. 

Traveler mobility has quite literally doubled this century, and it has created tourism potential for billions of aspiring travelers.

Commerce: Ready or not, AI is Coming for Your Distribution

I think commerce is the most exciting layer in the travel stack today. It’s where the biggest innovation is happening and is the area of travel likely to see the biggest change in the next decade. The cause of all of this agita is, of course, artificial intelligence.

These data from our Skift series of global traveler surveys show that the debate over AI and travel may often be focused on the wrong customer. To wit: AI has spurred the launch of (seemingly!) millions of B2C trip planning apps, but our data show that B2B travel will likely be the earliest adopters. In every major region, business travelers are more likely to use AI to plan their trips than leisure travelers. In the U.S., 86% of business travelers reported using AI for trip planning compared to 55% of leisure travelers — a 31 point difference!

Business trips are often fairly predictable and repeatable — think of a consultant flying to the same client site each and every week. That is an “AI-shaped” trip. And corporate leaders have been some of the biggest advocates for AI tool adoption in pursuit of cost efficiencies. This fits squarely into that remit. 

So, yes, AI for vacation startups may be sexy, but don’t overlook the staid business traveler; they might just be the best AI customer.

Operators: Inflation Continues to Bite

It’s never been easy to operate a travel business, but today is about as difficult as it’s ever been. Although it's normal to complain about the price of a vacation nowadays, the reality is that many travel companies are struggling to pass along higher costs. 

The chart below, reproduced from hotel data analytics firm CoStar, shows this clearly. It tracks U.S. hotel gross profit since the pandemic. Many of these operators appear to have grown their profits since the pandemic. But that nominal recovery hides the fact that, in real, inflation-adjusted terms, many hoteliers are earning less today than they were in 2019. 

At the same time that hoteliers have not managed to grow profits in real terms, consumers have been put off by higher prices across the board. Meanwhile, asset-light brands and distributors have grown significantly, powered by loyalty plans. No one said operations was going to be easy, but today’s squeeze is tough by any standard.

Experiences: The Creator Economy Grows Up

Experiences sit at the bottom of the stack. This is a tough category to define and one one person truly owns this layer. Governments, locals, operators, and guides are all responsible for delivering the final travel experience. Yet experiences underpin everything. Why travel at all, if not for the experience? So this layer has the distinction of being both the vaguest layer and simultaneously the most important.

But social media creators have found a way to cut through all of this noise. They know a good experience when they see one and they have an eye for how to sell these destinations, activities, and brands to their audience. 

iShowSpeed is one of the largest live-streamers in the world. His recent visit to the Caribbean reached 400 million people and led to a surge in search interest for lesser visited islands like Saint Martin and Guadeloupe. 

I’ll end it there. Let me know what you think of the new framework and your favorite charts from this year’s State of Travel report. Enjoy the last licks of summer, and I hope to see many of you at our Global Forum in September.

Best,

Seth Borko

Head of Skift Research