Travel Trends with Dan Christian

Dan Christian
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to our Travel Trends Podcast, the #1 B2B global travel podcast for professionals shaping the future of travel. Hosted by Dan Christian, this show features candid conversations with global travel leaders, startup founders, tourism boards, hospitality executives, and technology innovators. Together they explore the ideas, innovations, and strategies driving the next era of travel. Whether you're building a travel startup, leading a destination, scaling a hospitality brand, or new to the industry, you’ll gain actionable insights and real-world perspectives from the leaders redefining the global travel economy.

  1. 1d ago

    Event Spotlight: Adventure Travel World Summit 2026

    Send us Fan Mail 35+ voices. Seven hours. One extraordinary adventure travel community. There’s something special about a gathering where old friends greet you with a hug, new connections quickly become friendships, and people genuinely want to help each other succeed. That’s the spirit of the Adventure Travel World Summit, and Quebec City gave us an unforgettable setting for its biggest and best edition yet. As the official podcast partner, Travel Trends was proud to return for our third ATWS Event Spotlight, recorded September 14–17, 2026. This one breaks a major record for our Event Spotlights: seven hours of conversations featuring more than 35 speakers from across the global adventure travel community, in mostly 15-minute segments you can explore at your own pace. We kick things off with ATTA CEO Shannon Stowell and Board Chairman Erik Blachford, setting the scene for a remarkable few days. Marie-Hélène Hudon from Bonjour Québec shares the host destination’s perspective, while keynote speakers Leigh Barnes from Intrepid Travel and Aizaz Sheikh bring insights on the industry’s direction. From there, we meet some of adventure travel’s fastest-growing tour operators, exceptional cycling companies, writers, destination leaders, and the technology and marketing teams helping these businesses thrive. These conversations bring together people building businesses, creating meaningful experiences and working through the challenges facing our industry. They share the trends they’re watching, lessons from their own journeys, and ideas to help you prepare for success in 2027. Along the way, we reflect on what made Quebec so magical. From the Pre-Summit Adventures to the Day of Adventure, the shared experiences gave people a chance to connect long before they sat down for a meeting. That generosity, curiosity and love of adventure carried through the entire Summit. It’s what makes the ATTA community so special, and why so many of us keep coming back. We close with ATTA President Gustavo Timo looking ahead to 2027, followed by Magí Castelltort Claramunt of Turespaña announcing next year’s host destination: Almería in Andalucía, Spain. A heartfelt thank you to the ATTA team, our hosts in Quebec, and everyone who sat down with us and shared their time, stories and ideas. We hope these conversations bring a little of the Summit’s energy to wherever you’re listening, spark something useful for your business, and inspire you to join this incredible community next year. Choose a conversation, discover someone new, and come along for the adventure. We’d love to see you in Spain! Timestamps: 0m0s - Shannon Stowell, CEO, Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) & Erik Blachford, Independent Director & Board Chairman | ex-CEO Expedia/IAC Travel  18m48s - Marie-Helene Hudon, Director of Business Development, Trade & PR, Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec (Bonjour Quebec) 28m42s - Kimberly Daley, Chief Operating Officer, Transcend Cruises 40m47s - Rodrigo Atuesta, Chief Impact Officer, Impulse Travel Colombia 52m33s - Nina Kokotas Hahn, Chief Strategist, VP of Marketing & Director of Content Strategy, Red Thread Strategy & Storytelling 1hr6m - Aizaz Sheikh, Marketing Leader, Aizaz Ventures Inc 1hr16m - Marcelo Meneses, Owner/CEO, Neotropic Expeditions 1hr32m - Jessica Canelo, Marketing Director, Chile Tourism Board 1hr44m - Rob Holmes, Founder and Chief Strategist, GLP Films 2hr1m - Matthew Newton, CEO, Leatherback Travel 2hr10m - Kay Allen, Manager Regional Marketing & Communications, Japan National Tourism Organization  2hr27m - Leigh Barnes, President North America, Intrepid 2hr55m - Christian Wolters, President for Canada and GM of Marketing for North America, Intrepid  3hr09m - Jessica Haire, Founder Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association  3hr21m - Stacey Funt, Founder, LH Adventure Travel  3hr32m - Isabel Hofman, Founder, Bike Odyssey 3hr44m - Carlos Pizarro Figueroa, Local Guide, ChiliTrip Tours 3hr52m - Marc Giraud, General Manager, Vanuatu Tourism Office  4hr4m - Josh Halpern, Chief Commercial Officer, TourOptima 4hr17m - Todd Smith, Founder & President, and Lis Larson, Senior Content & Marketing Strategist, AdventureSmith Explorations 4hr26m - Maria Elena Price and Monica Price, BikesPlus and ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours 4hr39m - Nic Shaw, Director, South African Tourism Services 4hr54m - Eric Segalstad, VP & Partner, Gondwana Ecotour 5hr04m - Marc Ruffet, Partner & Head of Growth, Go Beyond 5hr13m - Cari Gray, CEO & Founder, Gray & Co  5hr22m - Jared Alster, Chief Strategy Officer & Co-founder, Dune7 5hr38m - Al Check, Co-founder, Odyssey 5hr49m - Dale Schober, Founder & CEO, Radventures  6hr01m -  Julie Thorner, President & Founder, LiquidSpark 6hr15m - Raffaele Di Biase, Co-founder, BirdsChile 6hr24m - Paloma Zapata, CEO, Sustainable Travel International 6hr35m - Gustavo Timo, President, Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) 6hr44m - Magí Castelltort Claramunt, Director, Turespaña The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    Event Spotlight: Adventure Travel World Summit 2026

  2. 3d ago

    What Wellness Travelers Really Want

    Send us Fan Mail Wellness travel is having a moment, but at its core, the idea is simple: travellers want to come home feeling better than when they left. In this episode, Dan sits down with Robin Ruiz, Founder & CEO of WITT (Wellness in Travel & Tourism); Lauren Pronger, Founder & CEO of Well Inspired Travels; and David T. Stevens, WITT-AP, Co-Founder and Wellness Architect, to explore what wellness travel really means and how the industry can separate meaningful experiences from clever marketing. We get practical about what hotels can do to better support travelers, and it doesn’t always require an expensive spa or the latest biohacking technology. Blackout curtains, better sleep environments, healthier food options and opportunities for movement can all make a difference. Robin explains why standards and certification matter as more hotels position themselves around wellness, while Lauren shares what clients are looking for, from burnout recovery to performance-focused travel. Then we take wellness beyond leisure travel. David makes the business case for bringing it into meetings, conferences and business travel, where better sleep, nutrition and more thoughtfully designed schedules can improve the experience for everyone. Finally, we get into wearables, AI and wellness technology, and why technology can be useful without replacing the fundamentals. As wellness becomes a bigger part of travel, the question is no longer whether travellers care about it. It’s how the industry can deliver it in a way that feels genuine, useful and accessible. 👉 Listen to What Wellness Travelers Really Want Now 🔥 Special Thanks to our Season 8 Title Sponsors for their Support: Quark Expeditions,  Intrepid, Kaptio, Propellic, Repayd, and Holafly.  The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    What Wellness Travelers Really Want

  3. 4d ago

    How an Organized Adventure Finds Its Traveler with TourRadar

    Send us Fan Mail You can feel a shift happening in multi-day travel. Travellers want the ease of an organized trip without giving up individuality, while tour operators are looking for ways to reach more customers without losing what makes their product unique. In the second episode of our three part Multi-Day Commerce Series with TourRadar, Dan sits down with Brendan Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer at TourRadar, to explore the distribution side of the business and how the right trip ultimately reaches the right traveller. Brendan takes us behind the scenes of the TourRadar marketplace, from how the company evaluates new operator partners to what it takes to get tours live. We talk about API integrations, reservation systems and manual onboarding, as well as why structured content matters when travellers are comparing their options. We also get into what drives conversion. Brendan explains how TourRadar looks at quality across content, service and trust, and why strong reviews, detailed itineraries and clear accommodation information can make a real difference. Then we look beyond direct-to-consumer sales and how TourRadar is connecting multi-day inventory with travel advisors, host agencies, consortia and retail partners through white label solutions and APIs. Finally, we explore what AI and social commerce could mean for the category, from helping travellers understand what makes one tour different from another to the growing role of authentic traveller content and hosted trips. For operators, advisors and anyone interested in the future of travel distribution, this episode offers a practical look at what it takes to get the right multi-day experience in front of the right traveler. Join us next Tuesday for the third and final episode in our Multi-Day Commerce Series with TourRadar. Listen to the first episode with Travis Pittman, CEO, TourRadar here. Learn more at tourradar.com. The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    How an Organized Adventure Finds Its Traveler with TourRadar

  4. Sep 24

    How Nezasa Is Building the AI Workforce for Travel

    Send us Fan Mail A trip doesn’t usually become complicated when it’s booked. The real challenges come later, when flights change, strikes are announced, wildfires disrupt plans, hotels overbook or border delays throw an itinerary off course. Suddenly, operations teams are dealing with hundreds of small tasks that take up time, slow down response and eat into margins. In this Company Spotlight episode, Dan sits down with Manuel Hilty, CEO and Co-founder of Nezasa, the travel technology company behind TripBuilder, to explore how AI could help travel companies manage that complexity. Manuel shares the story behind Nezasa, from his background as a PhD computer scientist who initially thought travel planning would be relatively straightforward to discovering just how complicated travel distribution, integrations and operations really are. What began with early tour operator clients has grown into a platform used by companies including TUI, supporting everything from complex tailor-made itineraries to dynamic packaging and collaborative planning between travelers and travel professionals. Then we get into what Nezasa is building next with Tai, its new AI platform designed specifically for travel operations. Manuel explains why simply adding a chatbot isn’t enough and how Tai is being built to work across different AI models while allowing travel companies to create their own no-code agents. The goal is to take on many of the repetitive tasks that consume an operations team’s day, from pre-departure checks and rate sheets to reporting and other routine workflows. We also look ahead to Tai Guard, which is designed to monitor itineraries from beginning to end, identify potential disruptions early and eventually help teams determine the best response before a small issue turns into a much bigger problem. For travel companies trying to understand what agentic AI could actually look like in practice, this conversation offers a look at how it could become part of the day-to-day work happening behind every trip. Learn more at nezasa.com. The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    How Nezasa Is Building the AI Workforce for Travel

  5. Sep 23

    How Food Is Changing the Way We Travel

    Send us Fan Mail Food has always been part of travel, but increasingly, it’s becoming a reason to travel in the first place. Instead of simply asking what there is to see, travelers are thinking about what they want to eat, where they want to eat it and the people and stories they can discover along the way. That shift is helping fuel the growth of culinary travel and changing what travelers expect from a great trip. In this episode, Dan sits down with three people who have built their businesses around food and local connection: Annie Sim, Chief Eating Officer of The Table Less Traveled; Daniel Cerda, Founder and CEO of Eating With Carmen; and Kenny Dunn, Managing Director of Eating Europe.  Together, they unpack what makes a great food experience, from choosing the right neighborhoods and balancing iconic dishes with unexpected finds to the role storytelling plays in connecting travelers with the people and culture behind the food. They also explore why smaller groups can create more meaningful experiences and how culinary tourism can put tourism dollars directly into the hands of family-run restaurants, local producers and communities. We also look at how social media and AI are changing the way travelers discover food. A viral recommendation can introduce people to somewhere they may never have found otherwise, but it can also create the next tourist trap. And when AI can produce a restaurant list in seconds, the value of a great guide, personal connection and access to places travelers wouldn’t find on their own becomes even more important. Finally, we look at where culinary travel is heading next and ask our guests a deceptively difficult question: if you could travel anywhere in the world for one unforgettable meal, where would you go? 👉 Listen to How Food Is Changing the Way We Travel Now 🔥 Special Thanks to our Season 8 Title Sponsors for their Support: Quark Expeditions,  Intrepid, Kaptio, Propellic, Repayd, and Holafly.  The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    How Food Is Changing the Way We Travel

  6. Sep 22

    Multi-Day’s Time To Shine with TourRadar

    Send us Fan Mail Multi-day travel has spent years being misunderstood, often associated with traditional coach tours even as the category evolved into something much broader. Now, as AI changes how travelers discover and plan trips, multi-day travel is getting a fresh look. In the first episode of our three-part Multi-Day Commerce Series, Dan sits down with Travis Pittman, CEO and Co-Founder of TourRadar, to explore how the category has evolved and why its next chapter could look very different. Travis takes us back to TourRadar’s beginnings as a London travel magazine featuring tour deals and its 16-year journey to becoming a global marketplace for organized adventures. We also get into one of multi-day travel’s biggest challenges: distribution. With higher booking values, multiple itinerary components, deposits, payment schedules and different currencies, these trips have traditionally been difficult for major travel platforms to sell at scale. Travis explains why structured data, AI and new technology could change that, making multi-day trips easier to search, compare and book. Then we look at who is actually booking these trips, from the importance of solo travelers and women in purchasing decisions to why interests and motivations may tell us more about the customer than age alone. Travis also shares where demand is growing and why travel advisors continue to play an important role in a purchase built heavily around trust. Join us next Tuesday for the second episode in our Multi-Day Commerce Series with TourRadar. Learn more at tourradar.com. The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    Multi-Day’s Time To Shine with TourRadar

  7. Sep 17

    AI Teammates for Hospitality: Built by Hoteliers, for Hoteliers with GuestOS

    Send us Fan Mail Your hotel phone can either help drive revenue or quietly become a source of missed opportunities. Unanswered calls, slow responses and endless back-and-forth can all add up, especially when hotel teams are already stretched. In this Company Spotlight episode, Dan sits down with Jessie Fischer, Founder and CEO of GuestOS, to talk about how AI could change the way hotels communicate with their guests. GuestOS is built around a simple idea: give hotels a 24/7 multilingual AI teammate that can answer the phone, respond to guest questions, support bookings and provide local recommendations, all through a single phone number with no app required. Jessie’s connection to hospitality goes back long before the current AI boom. She grew up around the industry near Yosemite National Park, working the front desk while her family built and operated hotels. That experience has shaped the way she approaches technology today, with a focus on solving everyday operational problems rather than adding another complicated system for hotel teams to manage. We talk about where AI can genuinely make life easier for hotel staff, from taking repetitive questions off the front desk to giving guests faster answers at any hour. We also get into one of the bigger questions facing hospitality right now: how do you use more technology without losing the human side of the guest experience? The conversation takes a more personal turn when Jessie shares what happened after wildfires affected her family’s property and GuestOS became a tool for crisis communication. It highlighted just how important fast, accurate information can be when conditions change quickly, and opened up a much bigger conversation about how voice AI could support not only individual hotels, but tourism organizations and destinations during disruptions. Finally, we look at the increasingly crowded world of agentic AI and what will separate the companies that last from those that don’t. Jessie shares why she believes deep industry knowledge and distribution will matter more than simply having the latest AI features, and what she sees ahead as GuestOS moves into its next stage of growth. As AI takes on more of the routine work behind the scenes, could the real opportunity be giving hospitality teams more time to focus on the part technology can’t replace: taking care of their guests? Learn more at guestos.ai. The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    AI Teammates for Hospitality: Built by Hoteliers, for Hoteliers with GuestOS

  8. Sep 16

    Accessible Travel Isn’t a Niche: Designing Travel for Everyone

    Send us Fan Mail Travel is still leaving both travellers and money on the table, largely because people aren’t getting the accessibility information they need to book with confidence. In this episode, Dan sits down with Dr. Yvette Pegues, Chief Prevention Officer at Your Invisible Disability Group; Alvaro Silberstein, Co-founder and CEO of Wheel the World; and Lorraine Woodward, CEO and Founder of Becoming rentABLE, to talk about where the travel industry is falling short and what needs to change. We start with what accessible travel actually means, because it goes far beyond ramps and wheelchair access. From airports and airlines to hotels and short-term rentals, the conversation explores why seemingly small details can make or break a trip. Bed height, door widths, bathroom layouts, thresholds and even the surface between the parking lot and front door can determine whether a traveller can comfortably use a space. Just as important is making that information easy to find before someone books. We also talk about why meeting accessibility regulations is only the starting point. Yvette explains why some of the biggest barriers are attitudinal rather than physical, while Alvaro and Lorraine share what they’ve learned about giving travellers enough information to decide for themselves whether an experience will work for their individual needs. Then we look at where technology could help. AI has the potential to make travel planning much more personalized, matching travellers with hotels and experiences based on their specific accessibility requirements. But as Alvaro points out, that only works if the industry has accurate, detailed data to begin with. Finally, we look at what it would take to reach a point where we no longer need to talk about accessible travel as a separate category at all. From better staff training and stronger leadership to involving people with disabilities much earlier in the design process, the goal is ultimately simple: make accessibility part of what a great travel experience looks like for everyone. 👉 Listen to Accessible Travel Isn’t a Niche: Designing Travel for Everyone 🔥 Special Thanks to our Season 8 Title Sponsors for their Support: Quark Expeditions,  Intrepid, Kaptio, Propellic, Repayd, and Holafly.  The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.  https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

    Accessible Travel Isn’t a Niche: Designing Travel for Everyone
See All (267)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Welcome to our Travel Trends Podcast, the #1 B2B global travel podcast for professionals shaping the future of travel. Hosted by Dan Christian, this show features candid conversations with global travel leaders, startup founders, tourism boards, hospitality executives, and technology innovators. Together they explore the ideas, innovations, and strategies driving the next era of travel. Whether you're building a travel startup, leading a destination, scaling a hospitality brand, or new to the industry, you’ll gain actionable insights and real-world perspectives from the leaders redefining the global travel economy.

Information

  • Creator
    Dan Christian
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    267
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Travel Trends with Dan Christian
  • Show Website
    Travel Trends with Dan Christian

You Might Also Like