We Graded Our Biggest 2026 Travel Megatrends

July 24
51 mins

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Episode Description

The U.S. passport is no longer among the world's most powerful. Skift revisits its biggest travel megatrends of 2026, and The Odyssey is already driving tourism in Norway.

Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko discuss what shifting passport rankings reveal about global influence, which travel megatrends have held up through the first half of the year, and why movie tourism continues to be a powerful force for destinations.


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00:00 Passport Power Rankings

02:35 Dressing Up to Travel

03:32 Ironing Boards Crusade

05:03 Henley Index Deep Dive

07:52 Megatrends Midyear Game

10:34 Tourists Skip the US

13:13 Marketing for AI Search

14:44 Sustainability Reality Check

16:51 Mocktails Take Over

20:07 Luxury Boom Debate

21:58 Self Driving Trend Watch

23:37 Train Renaissance Tease

23:48 Train renaissance check-in

25:18 Flying taxis progress

25:56 Music tourism boom

27:50 K-beauty travel trends

29:46 OTA oligopoly cracks

31:30 Vibe coding tsunami

37:39 World Cup matrix reveal

44:30 Winners of the week

48:32 Wrap and sign-off

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