If tourists from the United States are unofficial ambassadors to the world, then the worst among them are ensuring that local residents will resent them and more destinations will erect barriers to entry.

Loyalty, like many parts of the travel industry, is undergoing a reset out of the pandemic as brands aim to remain relevant and scramble to capture pent-up demand. Join us at 11 a.m. EDT on April 21, and on-demand, as we discuss the latest loyalty and subscription innovations with travel leaders from around the world. Secure your pass today,

It's taken years for hotels to adopt an array of new technologies and business practices to improve selling travel online. The metaphor is like shaking a bottle of ketchup. Little appears until a lot suddenly comes out. Similarly, hotel digital innovation may come rapidly after a long wait.

After a year that stripped bare the inadequacy of tourism's success metrics, how will the industry measure "building back better"? Before it answers that question, there needs to be an industrywide reckoning of tourism's root problem.

Thai tourism players are pinning hopes on a soft tourism opening in Phuket to bring back international travelers. May the so-called "tourism sandbox" model be more solid than a castle in the sand.

The travel sector couldn't afford to lose money on efforts done merely to appear innovative for social media optics. So the companies and destinations rediscovered innovation's original spirit. They focused on lasting boosts to operational performance and traveler satisfaction.

Virtual work startups are expecting a decline in travel for work across direct impact categories. But how can software be used as complementary to business travel instead of as a replacement?

Vaccine success is already boosting the economy and consumer confidence in Chile. But another Covid surge shows that a cautious approach in tourism recovery efforts is imperative alongside the vaccination race.

Carbon reduction is gaining importance for stakeholders, and reporting is getting better amongst the largest hotel companies. Skift Research compares the emissions of six global chains to determine which is best positioned to become carbon neutral over the coming decades, and which are falling behind.

JetBlue is pushing ahead with becoming a travel tech company by launching Paisly. But the question remains whether an airline can become a more diverse travel company in the crowded OTA field.