Being curious as to the reason why time seems to fly faster as we get older, we intelligently asked AI for the answer.
And it seems there is science behind it, the simplest explanation being that “Each year becomes a smaller fraction of your life. When you’re 5, a year is 20% of your life. When you’re 50, a year is 2% of your life. Your brain compares new experiences against the total you’ve lived – so every year feels shorter relative to your lifespan.”
So having got that out of the way, it’s time to reflect on the year that just went faster by and look ahead to the year that will fly even faster by.
Best to hang on to your seats for the wilder, faster ride coming even as we slow down (a tad) to take in the trials, tribulations and triumphs of 2025.
Here’s what our friends in the industry thought of 2025 and what they are looking forward to in the new year – the second instalment.
Ferry Unardi, CEO, Traveloka
Looking back – one word to describe 2025
Resilience. This year reminded us that in travel and tech, adaptability is our competitive advantage.
One word you wish would disappear from the vocabulary
Uncertainty. It accurately describes the environment, but it shouldn’t define our mindset.
On a scale of 1–10, how optimistic are you about 2026? Why?
- The fundamentals are strong – demand for travel in South-east Asia remains robust, digital adoption keeps accelerating, and our team has proven we can execute through uncertainty. Our opportunity is to sharpen our discipline: focusing on the right bets and operating with even greater clarity and speed.
One word to describe 2026
Momentum. We’ve built the foundation; now our team needs to convert it into acceleration.
What are you most looking forward to?
Seeing our team translate hard-won learnings from the last two years into smarter decisions, faster innovation, and customer experiences that truly differentiate us in a crowded market.
What’s the biggest question you are asking yourself as a leader?
How do we ensure that as we scale, we stay customer-obsessed, not process-obsessed — and make complexity invisible to the traveller
What’s the one key thing you’ll be doing over the next six months to prepare the business for whatever lies ahead?
Doubling down on focus: defining our few, non-negotiable priorities and systematically removing noise so the organisation can execute with speed and precision.
What is the biggest opportunity for your business in 2026?
Owning the position as South-east Asia’s most trusted travel ecosystem – where travellers don’t just transact with us, but rely on us to simplify decisions and remove friction across their entire journey.
What’s the biggest problem you want to solve for the traveller?
Eliminating friction – from unpredictable prices and confusing choices to fragmented after-sales support. In a region as diverse as ours, trust and reliability are the ultimate differentiators.
One important trend that no one is talking about yet
The shift from “AI Novelty” to “Invisible Utility”. For the last two years, the industry has been obsessed with AI as a feature – chatbots and flashy itinerary generators. But in 2026, the real winners will be the ones who make AI “disappear”. Travellers don’t want to “use AI”; they want the friction removed. We are moving toward context-aware micro personalization, where the platform understands not just who you are, but where you are and why you are traveling right now. If a Traveloka user is stranded at an airport at 10PM, they don’t need a “cool vacation deal”; they need a one-click booking for the nearest hotel with a late check-in. That is the difference between novelty and utility.
What’s the trip you want to make in 2026 to add to your memory bank?
A slow, unplugged trip with family – somewhere close to nature, where I’m reminded why travel matters and why our work has meaning.
What’s the most interesting thing you read or watched in 2025?
Essentialism by Greg McKeown. It’s not a new book, but I revisited it this year, and it hit harder than before. The core concept – that we can only make our highest contribution by eliminating the non-essentials – perfectly aligns with our strategy for 2026. It reinforced that success isn’t about doing more things; it’s about doing the right things with absolute clarity. I’ve been following pieces on how great companies balance ambition with discipline – how they grow by being bold in vision but precise in execution. It reinforced many of the principles we’re applying today.
Jacinta Lim, CEO & Co-founder, Seek Sophie
Looking back – one word to describe 2025
Energising
One word you wish would disappear from the vocabulary.
Does the object also disappear when the word disappears? If so, capitalism, patriarchy or LinkedIn. There’s also a whole slew of words in the dictionary that only exist to put down women (naggy, bitchy etc) – those will also need to go.
On a scale of 1-10, rate how optimistic (10 being most) do you feel about 2026? Briefly, explain why
Depends on whether it’s about work, personal or state of the planet/environment. If it’s the first two probably 8-9. If it’s the third, probably 4 – optimistically.
Looking forward – one word to describe 2026
New
What are you most looking forward to?
Work-wise, leaning a lot more into the advocacy/education aspects of our work.
What’s the biggest question you are asking yourself as a leader?
Is what I’m doing for the greater good?
What’s the one key thing you’ll be doing over the next six months to prepare your business for whatever lies ahead?
AEO, brand, community. Not one thing but they’re all related to the question of how does one build a defensible moat in an AI/LLM world.
What is the biggest opportunity for your business in 2026?
Doubling down on hospitality, community and advocacy.
What’s the biggest problem you want to solve for the traveller?
In a world with 100X more noise than when we started, how do we help the traveller sift through all the noise and find something that’s actually worth doing? How do we gain traveller trust in the age of AI slop?
One important trend that no one is talking about yet
I don’t think no one is talking about it since I just saw a WSJ article about it. But I find it fascinating that in this age of AI gold rush and automation, I’ve seen the demand for storytelling jobs ramp up. People are now willing to pay more for storytellers than they are for engineers. I doubt it but maybe we have reached peak mid-content and there’s a demand for real storytelling again.
What’s the trip you want to make in 2026 to add to your memory bank?
Tanjung Puting Orangutan houseboat, swimming with whales in Tonga. Re-wilding myself.
What’s the most interesting thing you read or watched in 2025?
All my farming books! Braiding Sweetgrass, Eating to Extinction, The Third Plate, One Straw Revolution, among others. It is deeply healing to learn that there have been people who have given up their lives to save seeds from going extinct.
Rod Cuthbert, Founder, Viator
Looking back – one word to describe 2025
Anticipation.
One word you wish would disappear from the vocabulary
Iconic.
On a scale of 1-10, rate how optimistic (10 being most) do you feel about 2026? Briefly, explain why
Very. Lots of change on the horizon — so lots of opportunities.
Looking forward – one word to describe 2026
Upheaval.
What are you most looking forward to?
Some big entrenched player — I don’t really mind who — being knocked off their perch by an upstart newcomer!
What’s the biggest question you are asking yourself as a leader?
Who is going to lose their way? Which companies will choose winning strategies and which will not?
What’s the one key thing you’ll be doing over the next six months to prepare your business for whatever lies ahead?
A lot of calls, questions, listening, reading… The answers are out there!
What is the biggest opportunity for your business in 2026?
To pick the winning strategy as the shift to AI-dominated e-commerce happens.
One important trend that no one is talking about yet
I have no idea. I hope somebody tells me in time.
What’s the trip you want to make in 2026 to add to your memory bank?
Corfu, again.
What’s the most interesting thing you read or watched in 2025?
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. Looking back at now from 100 years in the future. I’ll never know for sure, but I wonder if he has it right?
Daryl Lee, Group CEO, Dida Holdings
Looking back – one word to describe 2025
Momentum.
One word you wish would disappear from the vocabulary
Legacy. In the AI era, we shouldn’t be protecting the past; we should be engineering for the future. “Legacy” implies systems that hold us back, whereas we need infrastructure that propels us forward.
On a scale of 1–10, how optimistic do you feel about 2026? Why?
8. Because the conditions finally favour companies that can execute at scale and with clarity. And Dida is structured for exactly that: precision, partnership depth, and operational maturity.
Looking forward – one word to describe 2026
Breakthrough.
What are you most looking forward to?
Watching Dida step fully into its role as a connective force in the travel ecosystem – bringing together supply, partners, and tech in a way that actually elevates the value chain.
What’s the biggest question you are asking yourself as a leader?
How do we maintain the agility of a startup with the discipline of a global giant? It is about balancing the boldness to innovate with the rigour required to deliver at scale.
What’s the one key thing you’ll be doing over the next six months to prepare your business for whatever lies ahead?
Strengthening the digital ecosystem infrastructure. We are focusing on smarter data flows and cleaner integrations. The goal is to deepen Dida’s position not just as a vendor, but as an amplifier of our partners’ performance.
What is the biggest opportunity for your business in 2026?
Becoming the standard for high-precision B2B supply. The opportunity lies in providing a platform where partners don’t just trust the reach, but also the data intelligence behind every single connection.
What’s the biggest problem you want to solve for the traveller?
Making the experience feel coherent. Travellers shouldn’t feel like they’re moving through a maze of disconnected decisions. They should feel guided end-to-end because the B2B layer underneath is finally doing its job.
One important trend that no one is talking about yet
The shift from Aggregation to Orchestration. Companies will no longer win by just hoarding supply (owning the stack), but by orchestrating high-fidelity, trusted connections across the network. It’s about quality of connection, not just quantity.
What’s the trip you want to make in 2026 to add to your memory bank?
Embarassingly, I have never been to Hawaii and will definitely make the effort to make it happen in 2026 (schedule permitting).
What’s the most interesting thing you read or watched in 2025?
For me, the most interesting thing I watched was Upstream on Netflix. There was something deeply relatable about it – this idea that what people see on the surface only works because someone upstream cares enough to get the details right. It reminded me a lot of my own career… and of Dida. Most people will never see the decisions, trade-offs, and invisible effort behind the experiences they enjoy. But we do. And watching it made me strangely proud of the kind of work we do – quiet, foundational, and meaningful.
Timothy Hughes, Vice President, Corporate Development, Agoda
Looking back – one word to describe 2025
Generative
One word you wish would disappear from the vocabulary
Every one of the AI-generated, customer care based, faux empathy phrases like “we remain fully at your disposal.”
On a scale of 1-10, rate how optimistic (10 being most) do you feel about 2026? Briefly, explain why:
9 for travel, 5 for global stability. We have some big geo political issues to sort out. Impossible to tell which ones will escalate or calm. Either way, travellers will keep travelling.
Looking forward – one word to describe 2026
Agentic
What are you most looking forward to?
Building more tech. Our developers are 20% + more efficient, so we get to build so much more.
What’s the biggest question you are asking yourself as a leader?
What do I have to learn and understand so I can sort through the AI hype and focus on what we can build and what we need to change
What’s the one key thing you’ll be doing over the next six months to prepare your business for whatever lies ahead?
Answering question 6
What is the biggest opportunity for your business in 2026?
Moving up the funnel
What’s the biggest problem you want to solve for the traveller?
Why is check in at hotels unchanged in 20 years
One important trend that no one is talking about yet
Loyalty comes from product not points
What’s the trip you want to make in 2026 to add to your memory bank?
Tasmania. About time I started exploring more of home
What’s the most interesting thing you read or watched in 2025?
Outsourced all my reading to NotebookLM. Seriously (pun intended) – big fan of comedian autobiographies. This year enjoyed Entrances & Exits by Michael Richards and Comedy Sex God by Pete Holmes.
Note: Tim’s comments were prepared and sent two days before the attack on Bondi Beach, Australia.
Michael Dykes, Vice President, Market Management, Asia-Pacific, Expedia Group
Looking back – one word to describe 2025
Surge. This year felt like things clicked into place across APAC – all the foundational work of the past few years took off. New products introduced in 2024 grew massively in 2025. New source markets and new destinations suddenly became significant in volume. Partners leaned in and engaged with us like never before.
One word you wish would disappear from the vocabulary
Disruption. Travel and technology are constantly evolving; therefore, disruption is constant. What matters is your agility in harnessing it.
On a scale of 1-10, rate how optimistic (10 being most) do you feel about 2026? Briefly, explain why
- APAC continues to be the engine of global travel growth. Rising disposable income, digital-native Gen Z travellers, and expanding intra-regional routes all point to a strong year ahead. And with the rapid adoption of travel tech – from AI-assisted planning to more sophisticated partner platforms – we’re entering a phase where better traveler experiences and better partner outcomes genuinely reinforce each other. The only reason it is not a 10 is the unpredictability of geopolitics and natural disasters.
Looking forward – one word to describe 2026
Reinvention. The confluence of new products, new technologies, new travellers, new destinations mean a surfeit of opportunity that we have to capture efficiently and effectively. My sense is that we are at cross-roads where we will re-invent ourselves again in APAC.
What are you most looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to seeing more new travellers and destinations unlocked across APAC. The surge in demand from the Middle East, the emerging middle and mass-affluent classes across South-east Asia and India, the re-emergence of China as a destination, and the enduring popularity of Japan—the demographic advantages of APAC continues to pay dividends. But traveller expectations are different, their digital behaviour is different and serving them well opens extraordinary opportunities for our partners.
What’s the biggest question you are asking yourself as a leader?
“How do we build teams and technology that scale for the next decade, not just the next quarter?”
The products and services that we offer continue to increase, while travel in APAC also continues to evolve at speed—we need to make decisions today that position our teams and partners for tomorrow’s realities.
What’s the one key thing you’ll be doing over the next six months to prepare your business for whatever lies ahead?
Rethinking the fundamentals. In many ways, what we do is consistent over time—building strong brands, driving demand, targeting high-value travelers, building strong partnerships, and making it easy for travellers to book everything they need whatever their preferred channel. But the HOW and WHY periodically shift dramatically – and that is where we are today.
What is the biggest opportunity for your business in 2026?
Broader and smarter targeting to help partners capture high-value demand. To take one example, AI-enabled digital advertising is a massive opportunity.
What’s the biggest problem you want to solve for the traveller?
Helping travellers navigate choice overload – and find real value and trust in a world of infinite options.
Our Unpack ’26 report explored this a bit and told us that travellers are feeling torn: they want better value without compromising experience, they want authenticity without overcrowding, and they want efficiency without losing the magic. And they want a brand that has their back.
Right now, planning can feel overwhelming. Too many tabs, too many recommendations, too many “must-see” places that all look the same on social media. Too many different price points and sophisticated revenue management techniques – making it hard for a traveler to feel confident that they got the right value for money.
That’s why our biggest challenge (and our biggest opportunity) is simplifying that journey. Giving travellers the clarity, confidence and personalised guidance to choose what actually matters to them.
One important trend that no one is talking about yet
This year, I talked about “Deep Asia” where Asian travellers were exploring “deeper” within Asia – with secondary destinations across the region growing strongly based on intra-APAC demand.
Now, I think there is growing interest from outside of the historical primary APAC demand sources – often tied to new trade and financial ties and influenced by geopolitics. We have seen healthy increases in demand from Brazil, Mexico, Middle East, Canada, for instance. This is partly due to the same demographic shift we saw in APAC of an emerging mass-affluent in some of those countries, some of it is an emerging recognition that there may be greater cultural affinities with APAC, and some of it is probably driven by politics.
Whatever the causes, it benefits APAC, and I will continue to look at these new demand sources.
What’s the trip you want to make in 2026 to add to your memory bank?
I crossed Machu Picchu off the bucket list in 2025! For 2026… I have not made it to Europe for a while, so there is a part of me which wants to travel from Prague to Budapest via Vienna.
What’s the most interesting thing you read or watched in 2025?
Fareed Zakaria’s Age of Revolutions. Fascinating overview of different revolutions through history and posits that revolutions happen when economics, technology, and identity converge.
