Skift Global Forum: Five Decisions in the Room
Skift published a pre-read for its 2026 Global Forum framing five industry decisions: incumbency versus reinvention, funnel versus agent, premium versus volume, human versus machine, and certainty versus speed. Citing Skift Research, AI-enabled companies took 45% of travel startup funding by mid-2025, up from 10% in 2023; 30% of travelers reported "extensive" AI use for trip planning, up 17 percentage points; only 6% of hotels appear in AI-generated search results and only 2% of leisure travelers would let AI book for them. Delta's premium revenue rose 7% in 2025 while main cabin revenue fell 5%.
Impact and considerations
These figures and decision framing can help corporate travel and tourism buyers assess how AI distribution, premiumization and shifting demand structure affect supplier strategy.
Key points
- Skift Global Forum 2026 frames five decisions: incumbency versus reinvention, funnel versus agent, premium versus volume, human versus machine, and certainty versus speed.
- AI-enabled companies took 45% of travel startup funding by mid-2025, up from 10% in 2023.
- 30% of travelers reported "extensive" AI use for trip planning, up 17 percentage points year over year.
- Only 6% of hotels appear in AI-generated search results and only 2% of leisure travelers would let AI book for them.
- Delta's premium revenue rose 7% in 2025 while main cabin revenue fell 5%.
- 62% of global travelers said they would adjust or cancel plans due to cost.
Sources and time
- Primary source
- Skift
- Other sources
- 0
- First source publication
- 10 Sept 2026, 04:28
- Page published
- 11 Sept 2026, 00:09
- Last updated
- 10 Sept 2026, 04:28
- Original links
- Skift Feed：Skift Global Forum: Five Decisions in the Room (opens in a new tab)Primary source · en · Published 10 Sept 2026, 04:28