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.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
It’s an annual tradition: the Fed’s banking ‘stress test.’ A year after the regional banking crisis, there are good reasons to make sure they’re prepped.
Summer is upon us, which means weddings, trips overseas, and trips to see Taylor Swift. Avoid a “Cruel Summer” with these budget-friendly tips and tricks.
