Travel Trends with Dan Christian

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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/

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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/

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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/

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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/

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Watching football on TV is one thing. Standing in a packed stadium surrounded by thousands of fans singing the same song is something completely different.
Sports tourism is booming, and football is helping drive that growth. In this Company Spotlight episode, Dan sits down with Yves Marceau, VP of Product at G Adventures, and Aly Handler, Product Development and Travel Style Manager, to talk about the launch of Away Games, G Adventures’ new small-group travel style built entirely around football culture.
We get into how the idea went from research to more than 30 departures across some of Europe’s biggest football cities, including London, Manchester, Madrid and Barcelona. Yves and Aly explain why they didn’t want to simply add a match ticket to an existing itinerary. Instead, Away Games was designed around the full experience of being a fan, from supporter pubs and stadium tours to matchday traditions, local food and the neighbourhoods where football culture lives.
Of course, the matches are a big part of it. Trips include premium hospitality and VIP seating at iconic grounds, but they also feature a second live match at the lower-league level. It’s a chance for travellers to experience both sides of the game, from some of the world’s most famous clubs to the grassroots communities where football remains deeply local.
We also talk about why travelling for sport can create such an immediate sense of connection. G Adventures’ research found that fans are surprisingly willing to travel with complete strangers when they share a club or passion for the game. Each trip is led by a football-loving G Adventures Chief Experience Officer, helping turn that shared interest into a ready-made travel community.
Then we get into some of the realities of planning an international football trip. Ticket fraud is a genuine concern, match dates can change because of television schedules and competitions, and something as simple as wearing the wrong jersey in the wrong seating section can create problems. Yves and Aly explain how Away Games handles those complexities and builds flexibility into each itinerary so travellers can focus on the experience rather than the logistics.
Finally, we look at the bigger opportunity behind Away Games. As more people build trips around the things they love, whether that’s food, music, wellness or sport, are we moving toward a future where travellers choose what they want to experience first and the destination second?
Learn more about G Adventures Away Games at gadventures.com.
The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds. 
https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/