Douglas Quinby, CEO and Co-founder of Arival, opened Arival 360 Washington with a data-rich keynote that laid bare the trends reshaping the travel experiences sector. Quinby revealed: “The top 10% of income earners in the United States account for nearly half of all spend… and within our industry, that 1/5 cohort of affluent travelers drives nearly half of all experiences spend.”
The keynote, delivered at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, focused on the intersection of economic shifts, generational change, and exponential tech disruption. Drawing from Arival’s Global Operator Landscape Survey, Quinby highlighted regional performance trends: “Asia is doing relatively well, with a majority of operators reporting growth. But in the U.S. and Latin America, 60% of operators told us their business is flat or down this year.”
Quinby urged operators to rethink customer segmentation and product strategy. “Younger travellers are trading down, pulling back, and using buy now, pay later: even for $500 experiences. One in five travellers now pays this way, and nearly all of them are Gen Z or younger millennials.”
He also spotlighted the rise of immersive travel: “There’s a generational shift underway. Younger travellers want to taste, touch, feel. They want to be co-creators of the experience, not passive listeners.”
On the tech front, Quinby warned of rapid disruption: “AI Overviews now appear in more than half of all U.S. travel searches. SEMrush says LLM traffic will overtake traditional search by 2028, but I’d bet on the second half of next year.”
The keynote closed with a call to action: “If 2025 hasn’t lived up to your expectations, you’re not alone. But you’re in the best possible place, surrounded by the people who can help you plan, adapt, and grow.”
In a keynote that redefined the purpose of travel experiences, B. Joseph Pine II - author of The Experience Economy - called on operators to embrace a new paradigm: the transformation economy. “Transformations are the fifth and final economic offering,” he declared. “They happen from the inside out - and they begin with you.”
Pine urged travel leaders to shift from staging experiences to guiding personal change. “You don’t transform people, they transform themselves. You’re their guide.” He introduced the concept of time well invested, arguing that transformational experiences offer the highest form of value: helping guests become who they aspire to be.
He spotlighted The Guide School in Denmark, which offers a “transformation guarantee” to aspiring tour guides. “If graduates don’t land a job within four months, they get a full refund. Twenty-five years. Never had to pay it.”
Pine also addressed pricing: “The money you charge equals the value you create. And with transformations, that value includes core functionality plus the net value of time.” He warned against commoditization: “If people are buying you based on price and convenience, it’s time to shift up.”
In a lively Q&A, Pine affirmed that fun and transformation can coexist. “It’s absolutely okay to just offer a great experience. But if you want to guide change, do it intentionally, and train your guides to recognize the moments when transformation is possible.”
He closed with a practical framework: encapsulation, a three-phase model of preparation, reflection, and integration.
“Transformations are all about helping customers become who they want to become. And when you guide that journey, you create the greatest value of all.”
