For all of the skills in Amazon's Alexa voice marketplace, the majority can still be described as "unskilled" for travel planning and booking tasks. The same can be said for Google Assistant and most other available voice experiences. Recent Phocuswright research tested voice apps on multiple platforms from major travel intermediaries, suppliers and startups. Read on to find out the results.

The leisure traveler population grew in 2017, but the benefits were not felt equally across all travel segments. While the purchase incidence for some travel products declined, there were gains for others.

More Americans traveled for leisure in 2017 than in any other year, surging ahead of its 2015 peak. Pushed by a strong economy, over 70% of the U.S. online population took a leisure trip in 2017, bringing in a new group of travelers compared to previous years. This jump in leisure travel suggests rising consumer confidence, particularly among …

The concepts of personalization, big data analysis and dynamic pricing/offers have been discussed and debated in the press for a number of years, though limited evidence exists of any wide-level adoption in the travel industry today. The field of AI has been around for decades, but over the past few years, advancements in big data analytics, machine and deep learning, natural language processing and predictive analytics have ushered in a new era of AI-impacted applications. At the heart of these efforts is to better understand and anticipate the needs of the traveler. The question still remains on whether the desire for greater personalization will actually meet the needs of the traveler, particularly based on their specific context and persona.

In March of this year, the innovative online media company Quartz proclaimed that somebody should let Airbnb know that travelers don't like booking tours and activities online. We at Phocuswright were flattered because they cited our research as a basis for their declaration. There is just one problem. They are wrong. Here's why.

Google's entry into metasearch may be more than half a decade old, but it continues to be a closely watched obsession for the travel industry. Since the very beginning, Phocuswright has carefully tracked the evolution of Google travel products and their growing role in travel's search-shop-buy funnel. Phocuswright's 2017 deep dive on metasearch revealed two clear trends.

For destination marketing organizations, determining how travelers end up in their destination is not always a straightforward proposition. Many travelers decide where to take their next trip based on predetermined factors, such as social events, or the location of vacation homes or out-of-town family. These travelers typically know where they want to go and when. However, according to upcoming Phocuswright research, two in five travelers choose their destination completely independent of other factors. In other words, they have no specific commitments and their options are wide open.

The charm and beauty of a destination aren't always enough to get travelers to book their next big trip. What travelers actually do on their trips is just as important, if not more so, than where the destination is, how they'll get there and where they'll sleep. Four in five travelers participated in a tour, activity, ticketed event or attraction on their last trip, a larger share than those who booked one of travel's biggest products: flight, hotel or car rental.

Japan is Asia Pacific's second-largest travel market, and is expected to remain so for a long time; the growth markets of Southeast Asia and India still have a long way to go to catch up. But Japan is facing significant growth challenges.

The broader travel industry may bucket hostels into "alternative accommodations," yet this often-overlooked sector is showing higher online penetration than the hotel or vacation rental categories. Younger travelers (18-34) comprise the largest share of hostel guests, and these digital natives have fueled rapid adoption of online and mobile hostel booking.