As the global travel industry moves into 2026, demand remains resilient. Bookings continue to recover, intra-regional travel is accelerating, and Asia-Pacific is gaining prominence as both a source and destination market. Yet beneath this surface-level optimism, the operating realities discussed at MarketHub Asia, HBX Group’s flagship industry forum that convenes leaders across travel, hospitality, payments, and technology, point to a deeper recalibration underway.

The next phase of travel will not be defined solely by expansion. It will be shaped by how effectively the industry balances technology, artificial intelligence, and trust at scale, in a system where data volumes are exploding, regulatory environments are increasingly fragmented, and security risks evolve faster than governance structures.

Power and control in travel distribution

One of the clearest realities of global travel today is the concentration of power within its infrastructure layer. While innovation across platforms, experiences, and booking channels remains vibrant, control over payments and settlement remains in the hands of a few dominant networks.

Global payment providers such as Visa and Mastercard shape much of the industry’s commercial and operational framework. High commissions, opaque routing logic, and limited competitive alternatives are largely treated as fixed constraints rather than areas open to challenge. As a result, value creation in travel increasingly happens downstream of infrastructure control, not at the point of customer experience or product innovation.

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This concentration has consequences that extend far beyond pricing. It determines how quickly new models can scale, how risk is distributed across ecosystems, and how trust is enforced across borders. Individual companies, regardless of size, have little leverage acting alone. Real change requires collective pressure, coordination across stakeholders, and a willingness to rethink the underlying rails that power global travel.

“We cannot compete with these giants on size alone,” David Amsellem, Chief Distribution Officer at HBX Group, said. “The only viable response is strategic alignment. By forming alliances and coordinating as an ecosystem, we can rebalance the market and preserve healthy competition. When competition is healthy, travellers benefit, innovation thrives, and regional players retain agency.”

He pointed to history as a cautionary guide. “We have seen what happens when markets consolidate too far. In social media, for example, dominance by a single player came at a cost. Privacy eroded, choice narrowed, and users paid the price. Contrast that with cloud computing. At one point, Amazon Web Services held close to 50 per cent market share. Had competition not emerged, the market would look very different today. Instead, the rise of Azure and Google Cloud rebalanced the ecosystem. Market share diversified, competition improved, and customers gained greater autonomy and choice.”

For Amsellem, the lesson is not that dominance should be countered with brute force. It is that it should be countered with coordination. Strategic alliances, not fragmentation, are what shift power. This is where HBX sees its role: to act as the ecosystem of reference, a platform where players, particularly across APAC, can align, collaborate, and maintain a competitive balance alongside these global giants.

Trust remains travel’s defining currency

Against this backdrop, one idea stood out, as Mark Antipof, Chief Growth Officer at HBX Group, put it: “travel has always been about trust.” The weight of that observation lies in what it implies: many of the industry’s most pressing challenges are not failures of innovation, but failures of trust reinforced by scale.

Antipof points out that trust in travel operates across multiple, interdependent layers: payments clearing correctly, identities being verified securely, refunds being processed fairly, data being handled responsibly, and recommendations reflecting reality rather than promotion. As travel becomes increasingly digital and interconnected, these trust dependencies multiply, raising the cost of failure across the entire ecosystem.

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The past year underscored how fragile these systems can be. Cybersecurity activity in 2025 reached record levels across industries, with phishing and malware incidents rising sharply and credential-stealing attacks tripling year-on-year. The rise of Phishing-as-a-Service and Ransomware-as-a-Service lowered the barrier to cybercrime, while deepfake-based scams surged by more than 1,500 per cent between 2023 and 2025, directly targeting identity and executive trust.

Hospitality, a critical layer of the travel ecosystem, was among the most affected sectors. In 2025, 82 per cent of North American hotels experienced a cyberattack during peak periods, most commonly targeting payment systems, guest Wi-Fi networks, and booking platforms. Each breach introduces friction, exposes sensitive data, and steadily erodes the trust that underpins the travel experience.

Evidence over brand in the algorithmic economy

As trust becomes harder to maintain, the way travellers evaluate credibility is shifting. Traditional markers such as brand reputation, polished imagery, and static reviews are losing influence in algorithm-driven environments.

Jiha Jung, Tripbtoz CEO and Founder, observed that travellers increasingly seek real-time, human-generated proof when making decisions. Influencer content, live experiences, and unfiltered perspectives now carry more weight than curated marketing assets.
Algorithms increasingly privilege evidence over reputation. Engagement signals, recency, and contextual relevance matter more than brand heritage. This aligns with findings from HBX Group’s Travel Trends 2026 report, which highlights a growing preference for experience-led, emotionally resonant travel shaped by social influence and community validation.

In this environment, influencers function less as promoters and more as intermediaries of trust. Their value lies not in reach, but in perceived authenticity, a commodity that is increasingly scarce.

AI in practice, not theory

Artificial intelligence now sits firmly in the realm of execution rather than ambition. The most credible discussions across the industry no longer frame AI as a distant, transformative promise, but as an operational requirement embedded into everyday decision-making.

Across travel, AI is being applied to concrete problems: improving pricing precision, detecting fraud, forecasting demand, and managing customer interactions at scale. These applications are practical, measurable, and largely invisible to travellers. They closely mirror developments in cybersecurity, where AI has already become essential for identifying anomalies and responding to threats at machine speed.

Agentic AI takes this a step further. Rather than supporting predefined workflows, agentic systems can perceive context, make decisions, and take action autonomously within set constraints. In travel, this means systems that can dynamically adjust pricing, reroute inventory, personalise offers, resolve service disruptions, or manage refunds in real time, without waiting for human intervention. The experience is no longer optimised before or after the journey, but continuously shaped during it.

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However, the same capabilities that enable real-time optimisation also expand exposure. AI-driven personalisation, automation, and data processing increase the number of attack vectors available to adversaries. Deepfake fraud, automated credential harvesting, and adaptive malware demonstrate how speed, when left unchecked, can amplify risk rather than reduce it.

This tension becomes most visible as decision-making shifts into live environments. When systems are empowered to act, not just recommend, errors propagate faster, and trust can erode instantly. The implication is clear: sustainable progress depends on the alignment of technology, AI, and human judgment. Guardrails, accountability, and oversight are not constraints on innovation. They are what make agentic systems viable at scale.

Fragmentation as the industry’s defining constraint

If trust is the industry’s core challenge, fragmentation is its most persistent constraint. Travel spans finance, aviation, hospitality, technology, and regulation, each with its own incentives, standards, and timelines.

Banking and payments introduce an additional layer of complexity. Regulatory requirements change dynamically, vary by jurisdiction, and directly influence how data can be stored, processed, and transferred. This makes scaling secure, compliant systems disproportionately difficult.

Fragmentation explains why many travel leaders are shifting focus from expansion to optimisation. Scaling a brittle system magnifies exposure. Modular architectures, continuous monitoring, and operational discipline are increasingly valued over rapid market entry.

It also explains why cybersecurity incidents propagate quickly. Breaches rarely exploit sophisticated vulnerabilities. They exploit seams between systems, vendors, and responsibilities.

Southeast Asia as a proving ground

These dynamics are particularly visible in Southeast Asia. According to HBX Group data, Asia-Pacific’s travel growth is being driven increasingly by intra-regional demand, favourable demographics, and rising middle-class consumption. At the same time, the region exposes operational weaknesses faster than more mature markets.

Regulatory diversity, uneven infrastructure, and rapid digital adoption create a high-pressure environment. Models that work here tend to be resilient elsewhere. Those who fail do so quickly.

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Gen Z travellers amplify this effect. They expect connected journeys, value-led choices, and personalisation by default. Loyalty is fluid, trust is conditional, and switching costs are low. Economic and political uncertainty remains a real downside risk, reinforcing the need for systems that can adapt without undermining confidence.

As Javier Cabrerizo, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at HBX, observed, Gen Z uses AI and personalisation to discover what is trending and relevant to them. But once they arrive, they deliberately avoid the crowd, seeking hidden gems and local experiences instead. AI guides discovery, but individuality defines value.

For travel providers, this creates a tension: AI is essential for discovery and relevance, but value is ultimately measured by how effectively it enables individuality rather than conformity.

A recalibrated future

MarketHub Asia did not signal a slowdown in travel. It signalled a recalibration.

The industry is moving away from growth narratives built solely on scale and toward operating models grounded in trust, evidence, and resilience. Technology enables opportunity. AI accelerates execution. Security, often invisible, determines whether either can be sustained.

The next generation of travel leaders will not be defined by how quickly they expand, but by how well their systems hold under pressure. In an increasingly connected, data-rich world, discipline, not ambition, is becoming the industry’s most durable competitive advantage.

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Image credit: HBX Group

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