Davos and the travel industry: 5 takeaways

Davos 2023 – the “who’s who” of world leaders – is now over. This year I was honored to be invited to attend the annual meeting and participate in a panel on "Traveling Again Differently."

While some business and policy pundits had predicted a tone of pessimism and light participation at Davos, it was immediately clear to me - whether in a session, participating in the panel or riding a shuttle bus with other participants - that those concerns were simply not borne out.

If anything, there was a sense of optimism. Participation was diverse and incomparably global. Even the snow fell eventually, transforming the small village into a truly stimulating, Swiss wonderland.

Here are my five takeaways for the travel industry:

• Travel needs to show up. Travel industry leaders were largely absent from Davos this year – with the exception being Uber‘s Dara Khosrowshahi. At the same time, the global attendees were a stark reminder of how increasingly complex, diverse and intertwined the world is. This year's event was a cauldron of leadership from around the world (Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East). Industry and financial leaders were there in abundance. They were joined by a vast cross section of entrepreneurs, NGOs and young “shapers" who are diverse, global influencers across many issues like food scarcity, climate and women’s rights.
  
  Travel is too important an engine for human connectivity and commerce to not be at the table. A stronger presence from travel leaders would enrich the forum’s conversations and better enable the collaboration necessary on our most complex challenges. Participation could also help advance our industry leaders’ most vital strategies, especially those associated with global scope and sustainability.
• We need a meaningful discussion of artificial intelligence. While AI was a common thread of conversation at Davos, from my vantage point, not a lot of substance was presented. That’s unfortunate since travel is but one major industry that needs the promise of AI to be transformed into practical solutions for everything from operational efficiencies and labor shortages to customer engagement and sustainability. While the hype at Davos around AI in general (and ChatGPT in particular) felt a bit “crypto-ish,” it is clearly very relevant in the near term for travel leaders.
• We need to plan for a future that is better than “worst case” scenario. Despite the enormous complexity of the global environment, urgent challenges to peace and prosperity, and some clear economic headwinds, I was pleasantly surprised that optimism showed itself on almost every front. Central bank governors, for instance, spoke to a reduced fear of recession and of high resilience. That is reassuring news for an industry that has careened between crises. Challenges will not be going away, but we also might just be able to focus on some of the critical longer-term initiatives that will ultimately make travel better, more profitable and more sustainable.
• Sustainability progress is being made, but it’s a systemic matter and one where industry siloes won’t suffice. As the lead agenda item going into the forum, engagement on sustainability was very high. Government commitments were visible nearly constantly and the scope of investment was huge: between Europe and the United States, nearly $1 trillion has been committed thus far.
  
  Similarly, technology advances for energy transition to clean sources were visible and arcane topics such as biodiversity management, space technologies, laser fusion, and even carbon markets were represented. On the panel in which I participated, the CEO of Heathrow Airport, as an example, called on the aviation industry to collaborate with governments and the agriculture industry to develop markets for biofuels to help meet carbon emissions goals as well as to stave off more draconian government restrictions that could harm travel. Each industry has a plan and travel is moving too, but this puzzle’s solutions are the epitome of inter-connectivity.
• The travel experience matters. In my conversations at Davos with other leaders, I always paid attention to their stories about “how they got there” since the forum presented such a diversity of routes, modes of transportation and lodging arrangements for a uniquely global audience to descend on a relatively small mountain village.

To be clear, travel brands have made vast progress in the last three years on resilience, workforce and in automating and innovating big portions of their businesses. But for travelers, my fellow Davos attendees included, travel today still consists of a Lego-like patchwork of flights, lodging, ground transport, events, meetings and the occasional adventure. It's numbingly complicated, and today, each traveler is personally responsible to be the problem solver.

We can fix this. And we need to fix this as travel becomes steadily and quickly more global. To do it, we need real collaboration that moves beyond the fundamentals that exist today around safety, compliance, alliances, and even loyalty networks.

At the end of the day, why does the World Economic Forum matter to the travel industry? Simply put, in a few days at Davos, you are surrounded by an incomparable and highly relevant mix of the brightest minds, from across countless sectors and a rich diversity of leaders and voices that span the world.

If innovation is what drives your company - like it does mine - being at Davos is fuel. If understanding how global complexity needs to be harnessed to keep up with global, non-first-world demand, then being at Davos can also accelerate growth. In 2024, I hope the WEF opens its arms to the leaders who - quite literally - brought them together in 2023.