phocuswright.com

🏢 China's influence revitalized Northeast Asia's travel sector in 2024 after reopening borders in 2023. South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau saw visitor economy boosts, while Taiwan lagged. China, South Korea, Japan aimed for 40 million mutual inbound arrivals by 2030 as of September. In November, China simplified travel between the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau. Travel bookings in Northeast Asia surged 116% to $44.6 billion in 2023, forecasted to grow 15% to $51.3 billion in 2024, reaching $60.3 billion by 2027. Online bookings hit $21.3 billion in 2023 and could surpass $30 billion by 2026, with AI potentially accelerating growth.

📱 Travel companies are using GenAI for customer service, sales, marketing, and content creation. Google launched Agentspace in December 2024, while Salesforce released AgentForce 2.0 the same month, with CEO Marc Benioff envisioning one billion AI agents by 2026 and a market potential in the trillions. Nvidia's Jensen Huang also identified a multi trillion-dollar opportunity in January 2025. Autonomous agents are set to increase automation, possibly replacing human tasks while improving efficiency. AI in travel requires clean data, with Snowflake winning "Innovator of the Year" at The Phocuswright Conference 2024. Companies are appointing chief AI officers to manage the transition.

📊 American Express GBT is currently attempting to acquire CWT, facing resistance from the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority over concerns of limiting choices for multinational corporations. Traditional TMCs like American Express GBT, BCD Travel, and CWT have been in service for decades and invested millions in technology updates. New entrants within the last 10 years, such as Navan, Travelperk, and Spotnana, are building tech stacks around the IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) and embracing the API economy, challenging the established TMCs' dominance. Major TMCs have responded by investing in their tech stacks and online booking tools (OBTs) to rival new entrants.