Travelshift's 2016 Highlights
As 2017 gets underway, we thought it would be a good idea to allow ourselves a moment of nostalgia. 2016 was a big year for us here at Travelshift: The growth of our readership has been immense and our marketplace software has begun to help travel startups all around the world.
With that in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to round up some of our favourite stories from the past 12 months. From Trump to Brexit, to Pokemon Go and Leicester City's unlikely Premier League win, we've proved that there is no subject we can't wrangle into a travel or startup-related story.
So here's our top five stories from the last year.
What a year it's been in the world of politics. As well as the vote to leave the European Union from Great Britain, we've also seen the rise of Donald Trump in the USA. Both will take full effect in the months and years to come, but there's no doubt that there will be an impact on the travel industry.
We've also seen the impact the darker side of politics has had on the industry, as we discussed in our Travel industry Hit by Terrorism and Political Unrest article.
As a business, we work on the boundaries of tourism and technology. Our marketplace software takes advantage of the latest techniques to help travel startups compete with established operators. For that reason, we like to look at other technologies in the world of tourism. This piece focused on artificial intelligence. We also had a look at general tech trends in the travel industry.
We don't only write blogs about travel industry news and future trends. Sometimes we like to focus directly on those that our company was built to serve: Travel startups. This post concentrated on the art of team building and features tips on startups should construct a team. It includes an interview with Rocketrip founder Dan Ruch.
As you probably know by now, we like to look ahead to the future. Of great importance to the travel industry is how the next generation of travellers, Generation Z, can be best appealed to once they come of age. We're already aware, in general terms, of what they are interested in and how they react to certain mediums. With that in mind, we put together a few ideas that travel startups can start thinking about for the next batch of young travellers.
Last year we started out our 'Gap in the Market' series. The idea is that every so often we hone in on a particular travel niche and take a closer look. There were plenty of personal favourites, including in-depth looks at the worlds of cruise, corporate and wellness travel, but we especially enjoyed our deep dive into food tourism. This piece also featured an interview with Hugo Palomar, founder and CEO of Foodie&Tours.
We hope you enjoyed our blog throughout 2016 - here's to many more!