GLOBAL travel agencies are keen on focusing on events, the elderly, and emerging markets-the Three E’s-as a new wave of travel trends.
In a panel discussion on ‘Focus on the Future’ at the recent World Travel and Trade Council’s 25th Global Summit in Rome, Jane Sun, chief executive officer of Trip.com, said the events trend is driven mainly by young travelers, ‘we call them Events + Travel, [where] young people like to go to Taylor Swift shows, [concerts of] Blackpink, G-Dragon, and the Olympic Games. So we center around these major events and add a travel package that is very popular for young millennial kids.’
Trip.com, an international travel service provider in 39 countries and regions, is also selling ‘Elderly-friendly’ packages. Sun said: ‘In Asia, people get to retire very early, between 50 and 60.and these people have money. They are very young, very energetic and eager to travel.’
She said the travel package works out well for both their clients and travel partners. ‘Our hotel partners and destination partners will get very good cash flow from these affluent population, and our customer also will get good value because it’s less crowded,’ she explained.
Staffing shortages still an issue
Travel destinations in ‘Emerging Markets’ are also trending, Sun said. ‘People from Asia are very adventurous during the Chinese New Year; the most popular destinations are Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, so far away from home. In the summer, they want to go to Greenland, Iceland, and Norway, which are very long trips. And by promoting these emerging markets, we hope to address overtourism with local tour operators.’
For his part, Federico Gonzalez, CEO of the Radisson Hotel Group and Board Director of the Louvre Hotels Group, also pointed to the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, Africa) region as a trending destination, along with India, which has a 1.5 billion population. ‘The people are growing and moving in the social scale, willing to travel not only to the big towns and the big destinations. So we have, today, between Sarovar and Radisson, 400 hotels. But dare we say, 400 hotels in a continent of 1.5 billion people is not enough,’ he said.
One challenge to exploring these new travel trends, however, is the industry’s inadequate talent. ‘It’s true that in hospitality or in tourism, many times it was not considered a great career.. And I think as we grow into more countries, into more projects, creating the right talent, who wants to stay with us, who wants to grow their careers with us, I think that’s the number one [priority],’ added Gonzalez.
While there are no hard figures on the staffing backlog in the Philippine tourism industry, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed 69,000 less employment in the Accommodation and Food Service Activities in July 2025, year-on-year. There were 3.84 million workers in these activities in July 2025, who accounted for 13.3 percent of the 29 million laborers in the services sector.
AI in hospitality
The staffing shortage arose due to the pandemic as employees found other work in other industries like the business process outsourcing firms. This has been exacerbated with the move of staff to international cruise lines or hotels abroad, which provide higher wages.
Asked if artificial intelligence can coexist with the human aspect of the tourism business, Jerry Inzerillo, Group CEO of the Diriyah Co., said, ‘We’re using the technology on air quality, on planting, on parks, to get people to come, but now, with everybody coming from all over the world, they’re being welcomed by young Saudis,’ who have been trained to speak in several languages.
Diriyah, the historical birthplace of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is currently being developed into a major tourism destination along with being protected as a cultural heritage, as part of Riyadh’s Vision 2030 program. ‘So we have a great harmony between cultural presentation, cultural preservation, identity, and technology,’ said Inzerillo of the giga-project.