How Ozempic and GLP-1s Are Changing the Business of Travel

31.05.2024 - 18:59 / skift.com / Rashaad Jorden / Seth Borko / Sarah Kopit

A growing number of consumers are turning to a class of drugs known as GLP-1’s, including Ozempic, in large part to help them lose weight. Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit and Head of Research Seth Borko discuss the impact of Ozempic and GLP-1s on the travel industry in this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast.

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Sarah Kopit: Hello and welcome to the Skift Travel Podcast. I’m Sarah Kopit, Skift’s editor-in-chief, here with our Head of Research, as always, Seth Borko. Hi, Seth.

Seth Borko: Hey, Sarah. How’s it going?

Kopit: Great. So by now, you’ve likely heard about the new, wildly effective weight loss medications on the market. Going by the brand names Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound, these drugs are part of a class of new medications that were originally formulated to treat diabetes. But like so many leaps in medicine, including that famous little blue pill, it’s the side effects that really got doctors talking because most people who took these drugs lost a considerable amount of weight.

Fast forward to now, and it’s difficult to understate what sort of impact these drugs could have on society.

Borko: So Sara worked on this incredible feature piece, looking at the impacts of GLP-1s and weight loss on the travel industry, and the Skift Research Team was able to support her. This was a great piece that took a really detailed look at how sustained, meaningful weight loss could impact the travel industry. And the results were really fascinating. So Sara, first, the set up, this is your story. Who did you talk to you for this article?

Kopit: So I talked to a whole bunch of people. But I think that the users of these GLP-1 drugs themselves were the most interesting folks for me to kind of mine what they were thinking. I talked to one woman who I think was a very typical user. She was about 80 pounds overweight — always had been her whole adult life.

She was a teacher. She lived in Arkansas. And she was telling me about how about a decade ago, she went to Spain with her students — high school students — and they all went on a camel ride. And she just was … for any of you who have actually been on a camel, they’re very, very tall — taller than you think they might be for those of us who do not grow up around them.

And she told me she’s like, “Sarah, I was just looking at that camel and watching all the kids get up. And I was just like, I can’t do it like I am. I’m too heavy. Like, my weight is going to keep me from this experience.”

And she said that was devastating to her. Fast forward until you know just a few years ago, these drugs came out. Her doctor put them on or put her on them. And she lost 80 pounds. She had just retired