Skift Global Forum 2025: Data and AI Are Travel’s Defining Battleground

In New York this week, the Skift Global Forum gathered the travel industry’s leading voices to look ahead. If one theme dominated, it was this:

travel’s future will be written in data and powered by AI.

On day one, Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, compared the rise of generative AI to the dot-com boom — a reminder that this isn’t just another tool, but a structural shift in how travel will be built, marketed, and sold. Elsewhere, a dedicated session on “How Customer Data Is Defining a New Era of Travel Demand” highlighted the urgency of unifying fragmented data, driving efficiency, and turning insight into personalised experiences.

These discussions reflect a clear pivot. Travel isn’t debating whether AI and data matter — it’s wrestling with how to deploy them at scale, and how to do so responsibly.

Three themes stood out:

1. Execution, Not Just Ambition: Everyone has data. Few can turn it into timely, trusted action. The maturity gap between talking about AI and embedding it into operations is widening.

2. Trust as Competitive Edge: From loyalty programs to sustainability, the conversation kept circling back to governance, accuracy, and privacy. Data that lacks integrity destroys trust, and in travel, trust is everything.

3. Skills and Strategy Are the Missing Links: AI is advancing faster than most teams’ ability to manage it. Upskilling and building the right organisational capabilities will decide who wins.

   
   

The real value of Skift this year was less in the hype, and more in the honesty: the industry knows the opportunity is enormous, but also recognises the gaps that still exist.

The challenge is now clear. The companies that can put their data to work — cleanly, ethically, and at speed — will lead the next decade of travel.