Young Brazilian travelers are wary following years of economic and political turmoil in their country, but many are still making frequent travel a top priority. Despite economic hurdles, this younger demographic is intent on traveling.

Innovation in travel is making the greater population more tech-savvy, and it's no surprise that those aged 18-34 are leading the charge with adoption.

The Middle East's relatively young population (38% below 20 years old and 27% millennials) and high Internet penetration (74%) are helping to driving double-digit growth in the region's online travel market. While the older generation tends to be driven by comfort and well-established habits, millennials are more adventurous and eager to visit new destinations. And overall, travelers in the region are venturing out more often (though sometimes for shorter trips), with new LCC routes and visa agreements opening up a range of destination options.

The U.S. online travel market might be growing while offline channels are flat, but that's just one part of the story. Take a closer look, and it becomes clear that offline channels are doing quite well in their sweet spots, according to Phocuswright Research. Online travel agencies and supplier websites generally do perform better than offline channels overall, but they don't dominate distribution. As a matter of fact, offline still reigns.

Fraud continues to be a major source of revenue loss for the global airline industry. In an environment where airlines are pushing for more direct bookings, and the use of mobile as a booking platform is accelerating, the incidence of fraud is rising. Yet many airlines are not tracking the required metrics or devoting the necessary resources to measure and control fraud, and the impact of fraud is projected to grow.

With a growing slate of travel experiences behind them, the average Indian online traveler has gotten more than a taste of leisure travel. But their hunger to venture out continues to grow; the more they travel, the more they want to travel.

It's shaping up to become one of travel's great competitive rivalries: Airbnb vs. Booking.com. One has achieved global dominance in online hotel distribution, the other in private accommodation. But as Phocuswright Research has been forecasting for several years, the silos and segments within accommodation are collapsing as travelers increasingly consider and book both.

The answer is more than any other type of travel product, including flights, hotels, private accommodation, car rental or cruise. According to Phocuswright's annual U.S. Consumer Travel Report, 80% of U.S. travelers participated in some type of tour, activity, event or ticketed attraction on their last leisure trip.

Hotel chains' major initiatives to drive more travelers into their loyalty funnel appear to be resoundingly successful. The rise of member-only rates and perks such as free Wi-Fi have been nibbling away at rate parity and helping hotel brand sites and apps compete with online travel agencies, according to Phocuswright's latest market sizing and forecasts of the U.S. online lodging market.

Travel metasearch was initially built on the premise that travel suppliers needed a platform to compete against OTAs for the attention of bargain-hunting consumers. Suppliers have fared better at holding the stronger metasearch position in the more consolidated U.S. air segment than in the fragmented hotel market. However, when examining U.S. metasearch referral data from analytics firm Jumpshot to the top 15 downstream travel websites over the past two years, share of air referrals to OTAs has been rising and surpassed 50% share last year.