Companies, consumers and the media often have a non-financial perspective on how the industry operates.
Services and products are there to promote, enjoy and critique respectively - but the nuts and bolts of how such elements perform commercially is the domain of the analysts, not least because they are often invested in the successes (or otherwise).
So for all the talk of a pandemic recovery and the introduction of new tools and technology, what do the money brainiacs who cover the sector think?
Do they have question marks over the various subscription models being thrust into the limelight this year?
How might suppliers, especially airlines, cope with a resurgence in travel activity at the same time as facing chronic staff shortages?
Is Booking Holdings going to succeed with its promise of the "connected trip" by wading into services such as air and other products, at scale?
And what about last year's financial darling, Airbnb, now that it has perform quarter-over-quarter?
The Phocuswright Conference's traditional Street Talk panel discussed all these issues and more in November.
The panel features the following participants:
- Helane Becker, managing director at Cowen
- Jed Kelly, senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.
- Mark Mahaney, senior managing director at Evercore
The full discussion, moderated by Jake Fuller, managing director and digital services analyst at BTIG, is included below...
Exec. Roundtable: Street Talk - The Phocuswright Conference