Is the travel industry ready for a new wave of disruption?

"Disruption" has become an ever-present word in the popular vernacular when talking about changes in the digital travel economy.

It has become, some might argue, as widely- and perhaps incorrectly-used as the term "innovative" - a description tagged to everything from new types of boarding classes on airlines and hotel facilities, to new features on an app or airport check-in.

If we are to agree that the travel, tourism and hospitality industry operates in cycles, then we are probably at another pivotal moment in that process.

The mid-1990s saw the advent of online travel agencies, coinciding rather handily with the democratization of travel itself through the advent of low-cost carriers.

Around ten years later it was the interactivity and consumer power obtained through so-called Web 2.0 that gave the industry its next moment to climb the digital ladder.

That period has settled down now - yet there is a new wave of technology that has the potential to trigger the next round of significant changes that will impact on the way the sector operates.

We're all overloaded with talk of artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning and ultra-personalization - but, as with other major developments in travel, certain triggers need to take place for true disruption to take place.

Similar to other business verticals, change only happens when either new businesses emerge to challenge the status quo, or when those with the power within the status quo take up the challenge themselves.

It would be fair to say that most of the travel industry's major developments have comes from new types of business (Expedia, Southwest, Ryanair, EasyJet, Uber, Airbnb, et al), rather than existing players - many of which have sought to protect their turf and maintain the equilibrium.

Behind most of the so-called disruptive brands have been a group of risk-taking financial houses - namely venture capital funds.

They have backed all of the major developments that are now considered to be pivotal moments in the industry (except, say, Expedia and its emergence from within Microsoft) - but they now, too, face important questions.

Some of the developments (AI etc) outlined above perhaps require more risk-taking than ever before, in terms of investment and the ability to challenge the status quo.

Some argue that the industry operates - with all its inherent quirks - fairly smoothly, and leisure and business travelers have never had it so good with access to information and an ability to do most things that a machine will allow.

So, will those that have the ability to financially support the next generation of tech services that will (hopefully) improve the discovery and shopping of travel, and how people experience it, really put their money in?