Why Travel Companies Are Staying Silent on Politics
Thu Feb 05 2026
This week on the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko tackle a wide-ranging conversation that sits at the intersection of geopolitics, growth, and brand identity in travel.
They begin with one striking reality: very few travel companies are willing to go on the record about political issues, even as immigration policy, protests, and global perception begin to influence tourism decisions ahead of major events like the World Cup.
From there, Seth breaks down Skift Research’s latest Travel Health Index, revealing a year of uneven growth, regional divergence, and a continued shift of travel’s center of gravity toward Asia and the Middle East, while North America and Europe lag behind.
The episode also covers severe winter storms and flight cancellations, airline geopolitics, American Airlines’ return to Venezuela, uncertainty around aircraft certification, and what safety, affordability, and perception mean for U.S. tourism in 2026.
The conversation closes with a deeper question facing hotels, Airbnb, and destinations alike: can brands scale without losing their soul? Using lifestyle hotels as a case study, Sarah and Seth explore why “cool” is harder to scale than luxury, and why fixed assets collide with fast-moving cultural trends.
A thoughtful, data-backed look at where travel is headed and what’s holding it back.
Presented by Viasat Ads. Click here to learn more!
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This week on the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko tackle a wide-ranging conversation that sits at the intersection of geopolitics, growth, and brand identity in travel. They begin with one striking reality: very few travel companies are willing to go on the record about political issues, even as immigration policy, protests, and global perception begin to influence tourism decisions ahead of major events like the World Cup. From there, Seth breaks down Skift Research’s latest Travel Health Index, revealing a year of uneven growth, regional divergence, and a continued shift of travel’s center of gravity toward Asia and the Middle East, while North America and Europe lag behind. The episode also covers severe winter storms and flight cancellations, airline geopolitics, American Airlines’ return to Venezuela, uncertainty around aircraft certification, and what safety, affordability, and perception mean for U.S. tourism in 2026. The conversation closes with a deeper question facing hotels, Airbnb, and destinations alike: can brands scale without losing their soul? Using lifestyle hotels as a case study, Sarah and Seth explore why “cool” is harder to scale than luxury, and why fixed assets collide with fast-moving cultural trends. A thoughtful, data-backed look at where travel is headed and what’s holding it back. Presented by Viasat Ads. Click here to learn more! Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.