Nearly 82 Million Americans Projected to Travel over Thanksgiving - AAA Newsroom

Photo Credit: A trio of travelers during a hike.  Unsplash / NEOM Travel often pictures the sustainable traveler as part of an earnest tribe that books the eco-lodge and pays a green surcharge. Our evidence strongly suggests this is a misconception. Skift’s research with 74,000 travel consumers in the top 40 outbound markets shows 77% believe travel should benefit communities and the environment, and 24% go further, actively seeking sustainable options and accepting trade-offs to get them.

Photo Credit: Left: Dylan Ratigan, Journalist, Author, and Entrepreneur, Reservations. AI; Center: Eduardo Santander, CEO, European Travel Commission; Right: Moderator: Rafat Ali, CEO/Founder, Skift. They spoke at the Skift Transatlantic Summit 2026 in Dublin, Ireland, France wants international visitors to spend €100 billion a year by 2030, up 29% from last year’s level, without adding to the crowds in Paris and its other best-known cities. The plan relies on longer stays, higher spending per night, and more off-peak travel.

Agoda has “doubled” its supply of premium accommodation over the past four years, Andrew Smith, senior vice president of supply at the Booking Holdings-owned online travel agency, told Skift. Recent deals with luxury groups show how Agoda is adding that inventory.

Some Vrbo listings will be allowed to keep their annual subscriptions even as Vrbo ends its legacy subscription model on October 29, Skift has learned. They include some users of Vrbo’s in-house Escapia property management system, as well as others not on Escapia. Most listings on annual plans will be required to move to a 12% commission on each booking when their plans expire. The subscription can cost less than that for some hosts, and some hosts and homeowners have expressed concern about the change.

Various countries have updated their travel guidance as cost-of-living protests continue in France and neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands of people in France took to the streets over the weekend to protest rising expenses and school conditions, with some demonstrations turning violent. At least 2,000 people have been arrested and more than 600 law enforcement officers and firefighters have been injured amid these scenes of violence, Laurent Nuñez, France’s minister of the interior, said Sunday.

Barbara Muckermann has left her role as Kempinski Hotels’ Group CEO after nearly two and a half years, amid departures across the luxury hotel company’s senior leadership, according to multiple sources who spoke to Skift. Chief Financial Officer Gordon Drake, Chief Human Resources Officer Karin Raguin, Chief Development Officer Frank Veenstra, and Chief Brand Officer Barbara Biffi have also left the company, according to sources. Chief Commercial Officer Massimo Brancaleoni has resigned but it's unclear if he has left yet.