The travel industry is known for being susceptible to just about everything, from financial downturns and global conflict to rapid technological development and climate change. However, it's also known for its ability to bounce back—often quite quickly.

At Phocuswright Europe 2025, CheckYeti, a specialist in outdoor experiences, and WingBuddy, a packaged tour operator, joined us in the PhocusWire studio to discuss what it's like to be a niche player in such turbulent times.

CheckYeti CEO Jakob Keller and Michael Carfagnini, chief operating officer of WingBuddy, said that as smaller, more agile operators, they have the ability to adapt more quickly to outside influences and build trust with customers. 

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If the first quarter of 2025 proved lackluster for travel startup funding with only about $1 billion going into newcomers in the space, the second quarter slipped further.

It seems all the headlines around tariffs as well as the political uncertainty and global conflict may have put investments on hold, with only about $800 million going into travel startups, according to Phocuswright’s Travel Startups Interactive Database.

If funding levels continue along this trend, the total come end of 2025 could be around $4 billion, significantly less than 2024’s $5.5 billion and a far cry from 2021’s record $16 billion.

The lack of funding for travel startups as well as the scarcity of exits were discussed during a recent interview with Nick Cocks, founder and managing partner of Singapore-based Velocity Ventures. He touched the current attitude to risk, boardroom paralysis and IPOs being shelved.

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During an interview at the PhocusWire studio at Phocuswright Europe, Maxim Sevastianov, founder and CEO of Trava, said he defines API connectivity success in the course of a long game.

“You define that there is a certain need in the market for that particular application, right?” he said. “Then you develop and you talk to the customers, of course, and they say there is a need for that.”

However, it's unlikely that success will be immediate.

“I would say three to six months later, that's when I would say whether it's successful when you look at the numbers,” Sevastianov said. “It's not gonna happen a week or two, or whatever it takes a few months.” 

But with new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) advancing at a rapid pace, the definition of success for connectivity providers could be shifting, too.

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As travel came to a screeching halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jari Virtanen, CEO of Stena Line Travel and Retail Group, was faced with a blank slate. 

So, Virtanen, who oversees a portfolio of brands including Sembo, European Online Flights, Motorist and Best Travel, took the time to innovate and look to the future.

According to Virtanen, at the time, he looked at larger online travel agencies (OTAs) and noticed that while they'd improved the user experience on their websites, the search method was the same.

With this in mind, he and his team got to work on finding a way to compete with these OTAs by adding value through new technology.

The result is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot called Amelia, now live on Sembo, which has driven a 50% uptick in conversions year-over-year and a 42% price bump, Virtanen said.

“Our booking platform to begin with … it's like the Rubik's cube with all the squares separate, it's a modular thing to begin with,” he said, noting that this setup was beneficial when they started to adopt AI.

With Stena Line's AI solution, users can create an itinerary in less than two minutes, according to Virtanen.

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API-first property management system (PMS) Apaleo aims to help hoteliers scale business. And according to founder and CEO Uli Pillau, the platform give developers and startups, as well as established players, the opportunity to innovate.

“When you look at us, we are the only not all-in-one PMS in the market—we are a true platform, so our innovation comes really from all of the apps and the modules and components, which are being developed by third parties on top of our Apaleo PMS platform,” Pillau said in a recent interview with PhocusWire news editor Abby Crotty.

Founded in 2017, Apaleo describes itself on its website as “the open platform for modern hospitality,” with its latest initiative, Agent Hub, launched earlier this year. The marketplace of artificial intelligence (AI) agents is intended to help hoteliers and tech developers share, adopt, discover and build solutions based on AI. 

The company has also secured significant funding: In November 2024, the Germany-based company announced growth equity funding of €20 million, and in 2023, it raised a total of €9 million in its Series A round.

During the interview, Pillau shared an update on Agent Hub, his biggest learnings as the head of Apaleo and his thoughts on AI in the hospitality industry.

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With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), search engine optimization—or at least SEO as we know it—has been effectively kicked out of the party. And it's a “reality” that the travel sector is being forced to confront.

Mario Gavira, vice president of growth and brand for Kiwi.com, who has been vocal about the future as it relates to AI and agentic AI, said the industry has to adapt.

“Our content strategy, linking strategy has to change to adapt to the new reality,” Gavira said. “But that's the first step. Now we have to test—will these AI agents really become a new acquisition channel? Will it be only search? Will it be end-to-end transactions? Will people be willing to allow the agent to actually finish a transaction on behalf of the customer?”

What brands need to focus on is how to become visible in those results.

Amanda Moore, vice president of performance marketing for Preferred Travel Group, added that with the changing environment and the decline of SEO, public relations and personas are back on the table. But it remains to be seen how paid search will be factored in going forward.

“I think the way we think of paid search is just going to evolve in terms of its definition,” Moore said.

The two also opened up about how their roles have changed in recent year as technology has advanced, with AI having a profound impact on their workflows. Further, they touched on travel’s commercial model, the resurgence of public relations and more.

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In an executive interview, Gillian Jones, senior business development manager of Condatis, and Vikas Bhola, CEO of Neoke, suggested that a shift towards digital ID adoption may help facilitate the connected trip, but it can feel daunting. 

And while fragmentation presents a barrier, standardization is another concern, with regions and industries developing their own frameworks for implementing SSI.

According to Bhola, however, the standards from the International Air Transport Association and the International Civil Aviation Office, combined with European Union’s efforts, put the “interoperable private layer” within reach.

Trust, again, is a key component, specifically for providers like Neoke that will be responsible for onboarding and adhering to varying standards.  

“Trust and the orchestration of trust is the holy grail to enable that connected trip, connected travel,” Bhola said. 

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Speakspots, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered WhatsApp hotel chatbot, has entered the B2B space with a white-label AI agent for hotels.

The new feature was announced at Phocuswright Europe in Barcelona.

“We started as an AI travel planner. Now we have over 50,000 users every month, especially in Europe,” said Andres Martinez Artal, CEO and founder of Speakspots, in an interview with PhocusWire. “We started integrating different destinations. Now we have 300 destinations in 68 countries. At some point, we realized if we want to have the long tail of destinations—not 300 but 3,000—we need to establish some sort of partnership.”

The B2B AI agent was developed to help rural properties automate guest communications and drive incremental revenue.

The solution is meant to be scalable and incorporates web scraping large language models to provide personalized recommendations through WhatsApp. The agent is also capable of handling restaurant and activity reservations, making calls on behalf of guests in the local language—something Speakspots sees as a way to move past language barriers and roaming fees.

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Multiday adventure and experiences platform TourRadar has unveiled TourRadar Moments in its app. The social commerce initiative enables travelers to book trips from uploaded photos and video reels content.

The company is also rewarding the creators for sharing the content with travel credits for future trips.

TourRadar co-founder and CEO Travis Pittman said "the timing is perfect" for the initiative amid ongoing developments in search engine optimization and the growing trend of travelers looking to social platforms for trip inspiration.

During an interview in the PhocusWire studio at Phocuswright Europe 2025, Pittman discussed the gap between inspiration on social platforms and booking and said TourRadar aims to solve this.

He said the initiative enables anyone who has taken a multiday tour to share the photo and reels content, which in turn provides a "richer understanding" for potential customers. TourRadar's tour operator partners can upload their content to the app as well.

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The road to modern retailing in the airline world is long and very complex.

Implementing the International Air Transport Association's New Distribution Capability technology standard is still a source of consternation for many carriers and their retail partners, but others are beginning to evolve towards offer and order and the dream of offering travelers personalized services.

Flyr, which was founded in 2013, has been steadily building up its own retail technology offering for carriers in recent years. The company launched its airline offer and order management system last September, having announced a $295 million funding round the previous month to "accelerate the delivery of modern reservation system."

The United States-based company also has a presence in the hospitality technology world, having acquired Pace Revenue in 2022.

In an interview with PhocusWire, Alex Mans, founder and CEO of Flyr, discussed the current state of airline retailing and the potential for carriers to begin bundling far more than bags and seats. 

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