As Web in Travel (WiT) celebrates two decades of convening the travel industry’s most progressive minds, it now turns decisively toward the future. The theme for this year’s WiT Singapore 2025, held 6–8 October at Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre, is “The Next 20 Years.” To mark the milestone, WiT has interviewed some of the leading changemakers at the forefront of emerging trends in travel.
Here, Rod Cuthbert, Founder of Viator and serial entrepreneur; Timothy Hughes, Vice President of Corporate Development at Agoda; and Christine Tan, veteran at the crossroads of hospitality tech and distribution, lay out the trends and transformations they think will define travel’s next 20-year chapter:
- Trend 1: Rod Cuthbert: “Experiences will become the emotional currency of travel. The industry must escape Google’s chokehold.”
Cuthbert predicts that experiences will be the centerpiece of global travel over the next two decades. “People aren’t collecting stuff anymore; they’re collecting memories,” he says. “Walking tours, wine valleys, cultural deep-dives… those moments live forever in your mind. That shift is irreversible, and it’s going to define the industry.”
Cuthbert warns that innovation is being throttled by tech monopolies. “Google’s dominance has been bad for tours, activities and the industry at large. No monopolies are good. We’ve all paid their toll, and they’ve given little back.”
Looking ahead to the next 20 years, he expects demand for richer, real-time recommendations and a more diverse content and distribution ecosystem. “We’ll need more choice, more platforms, and above all, more authenticity.”
- Trend 2: Timothy Hughes: “Content will be rewritten and generated in ways we haven’t figured out yet. We still haven’t solved the old rules.”
From his time at Agoda, Hughes sees the next 20 years dominated by gen AI and the need to reinvent discovery. “We’re about to break the rules again,” he says. “Content will be rewritten, pushed, displayed and generated in ways we haven’t even figured out yet. We still haven’t solved the old rules.”
He believes travel remains emotionally unbreakable, but that content trust is under siege. “It’s possible you’re talking to an AI version of me. It’s possible you could adjust this video and make me look like Brad Pitt, and no one would know!”
By 2045, he expects transformative change in transport and immersion. “What we experience in destinations will be dramatically more immersive. A fusion of human, technology and location.”
- Trend 3 – Christine Tan: “Hotels are succeeding in driving direct bookings. The power balance is changing.”
Christine Tan, former Managing Director APAC at D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions, predicts a pivotal shift in hospitality distribution over the next two decades. “From pricing optimization to personalization, AI will be central to refining distribution strategies,” she says.
She sees a growing focus on customer ownership, first-party data and loyalty. “Hotels are investing more and more to strengthen the direct connection with travelers. The rise of direct booking strategies is real.”
Tan also believes some long-held practices will collapse. “Check-in should disappear. The 3pm check-in and 10am checkout rules should be gone. The fact that you can’t book a connecting room should go too.”
This year’s WiT Singapore 2025 will feature speakers from across travel, technology, finance and media.
“Our industry has always thrived on transformation,” added Siew Hoon Yeoh, WiT’s Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief. “These leaders are predicting change – with an invitation to get on board and go help create it. If the past 20 years were about surviving digital disruption, the next 20 will be about defining what travel means for a new generation.”
