Ask Skift travel tips

Ask Skift is our artificial intelligence chatbot that offers a new way for readers to better engage with our breadth of knowledge and our latest experimentation creating products travel professionals rely on. It digs into news stories, Skift Research reports, Airline Weekly issues, Skift Live events, the Daily Lodging Report, and more to answer many questions about the travel industry.

Although business travel has made significant progress in its recovery in recent months, it’s uncertain if and when it will fully rebound from the pandemic.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, September 6. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

In addition to booming tourism numbers worldwide, travelers this summer have experienced scorching temperatures. That blistering heat has made travel difficult and could potentially create chronic health problems.

Travelers who made plans to hit the road this summer will likely notice the price of travel has gotten more expensive — in some cases, so expensive that many have decided to make changes to their planned trips. So why have hotel rates and airfaires increased from 2019 levels?

The U.S. travel industry has made tremendous progress in its recovery from the pandemic. Bookings for hotels, car rentals and tour activities have risen almost 30% from last year for travel between between Memorial Day and Labor Day — numbers that are expected to increase, according to travel organization AAA.

Travelers have increasingly prioritized sustainability, however, companies across the industry have struggled to make substantial progress in going green.

Although Skift reported in its recently released State of Travel 2023 report that international travel in most global regions still trails 2019 levels, there is gradual progress. International travel has been boosted in recent years in part by a significant increase in destinations providing visitors visa-free access.

Saudi Arabia has taken steps in recent years to beef up its tourism industry as part of its Vision 2030 plan, including launching a seasonal campaign named Rethink Summer. The kingdom is also currently home to the largest hotel construction activity in the Middle East.

Low-cost carriers have seen an enormous surge in popularity in recent years, with travelers increasingly viewing them as a much less expensive way to fly.