Well, here we are – 20 years on.

From dial-up to deep tech, we’ve ridden the waves of the Internet age, surfed the rise of mobile and social, and now find ourselves face to face with the fastest train yet: AI.

If the last 20 years were about surviving disruption, The Next 20 is about mastering reinvention.

Travel now sits at the epicenter of a perfect storm – technological acceleration, shifting demographics, and seismic societal change. Asia, home to two-thirds of the world’s population, is no longer rising – it is the axis. Connected, curious, ambitious – and hungry to explore.

A quarter-century into the Asian Century, the region is coming of age on its own terms. And with it, a reimagining of travel.

So what lies ahead?

Will AI rewrite how we discover and book travel or rewire the traveller’s brain entirely? What becomes of intermediaries when the funnel flattens, and choice becomes conversation? As machines get smarter, will we pay a premium for the soulful, the human, the handmade? Will science and art converge to spark a new travel Renaissance?

The Next 20 will belong to the bold – to those who can see what’s coming, build what’s needed, and lead with imagination, not just innovation.

It’s not just about what’s next. It’s about who’s shaping it.