Global travel trends are shifting, particularly markets such as Africa, the Middle East and China, where travelers are younger and more engaged with social media.
“Everyone should be excited about the African market because it has the youngest population in the world. That means the next future of travelers are going to be Africans,” Adebayo Adedeji, group CEO of Wakanow, said during an executive panel at Phocuswright Europe last month. He also dubbed the continent “the new frontier.”
Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of Wego Group, said that the Middle East is another “sizeable market” that has a young population with a median age of 27. Digital adoption, however, is an area for improvement even amid growing economies, he said.
As for China, Gareth Matthews, chief marketing officer of Dida, said that there are “very young, affluent Chinese travelers,” who are looking for unique travel experiences and those that are “off the beaten path.”
A key driver to sell these trips is social media, Matthews said. Later in the conversation, he added that social has become the centerpiece for travel inspiration, offering a layer of authenticity via influencers and micro influencers.
Africa and the Middle East have recognized similar trends among younger travelers.
“People decide who they’re going to transact with by asking their friends,” Veitch said. “Social media is kind of the modern manifestation of that at scale. Influencer marketing, I think, is bigger in the Middle East than anywhere else on the planet [across] all categories, including travel. There’s a lot of opportunities to build the platforms that the influencers use to go out and do their thing and monetize it.”
The individual panelists also touched on products they’re working on, B2B travel tech trends and fraud in Africa.
See below for the full discussion moderated by Web in Travel’s Yeoh Siew Hoon.
Around The World of WiT - Web in Travel at Phocuswright Europe 2025