Executives Place Long Bets on a Changing Traveler

The Skift State of Travel 2026 created a new travel intelligence framework for the industry. Instead of analyzing the $11 trillion global industry by sector (airlines, hotels, cruises, online travel, etc.), the Skift Research team has identified universal layers of the “travel stack” that apply across every part of the business: consumers, commerce, operations, and experience.

At the Skift Global Forum 2026, it became clear that each of these layers is changing to different degrees.

Leading up to the event, the Skift team identified “Five Decisions” that would frame nearly every conversation in the room. The discussi