The president and CEO of one of the largest travel recommendation engines in the world is well aware that over-tourism and "flight shaming" are trends that have the potential to impact the travel industry in the years to come. After all, for most people, air travel is the biggest contributor to their carbon footprint.
Historic city centers from Bali to Paris to Barcelona are straining under the weight of selfie-seeking vacationers, as a relatively strong global economy and the age of Instagram has led to an explosion in global tourism. Stephen Kaufer, who co-founded TripAdvisor ($TRIP) nearly 20 years ago, told Cheddar in an interview from the Skift Global Forum in New York that he believes tourism remains a critical way to make the world a better place ーbut there needs to be a new emphasis on how to do it sustainably.
"Experiencing other cultures is a fabulous thing ー literally for the world," he said. "Travel brings people closer together," said Kaufer. "It's harder to hate that foreigner when you've been to their land."
How to preserve that in the long-term is why Kaufer is among the industry CEOs who have partnered with Prince Harry's environmental activism organization to launch Travalyst, a sustainable travel initiative that is working to develop green practices for tourists, popular tourist attractions, and travel companies.
Even though there is a growing movement, spurred by the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, to get people to question their personal air travel, Kaufer said he doesn't expect a tourism backlash ー or "travel-lash" ー at least on the scale of the "techlash" that has gripped Silicon Valley. Tourism is inherently aspirational, he said, and in a strong economy it will always be a major part of people's lives. On that note, he added that despite growing concerns that the global economy may be heading toward a downturn, the data from TripAdvisor does not indicate that a widespread slowdown is imminent.
"What we see are ups and downs, and we're very used to that," he said.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
