From transactions to belonging: the evolution of travel tech

Across the travel sector, youth behaviour has always been a leading indicator – young people’s travel behaviour shifts early, and gives clues about the services and technologies that will be useful further down the line. 

Now, as global mobility becomes more fluid, the systems supporting travel are under new pressure to evolve.

Few people have seen that evolution as closely as Andrew Fenner (Director General at WYSE Travel Confederation). With roots in hostel culture and decades connecting tourism with communities, his perspective sits at the intersection of technology, trust and human experience.

We asked Fenner where travel tech is falling short, and what the next generation of platforms need to offer.  

Here’s what he told us. 

If younger travellers are often the earliest adopters of new platforms and technologies, what shifts in behaviour are you seeing now that might tell us where travel tech is heading next?

“Younger travellers increasingly expect travel to function like the rest of their digital lives: instantly, intuitively and with as little friction as possible. They are far less willing to tolerate clunky systems, slow responses or disconnected experiences between inspiration, booking, payment and support.

“What’s especially striking is that younger travellers no longer see travel as a standalone activity. For many, it overlaps with study, work, self-development and identity. The old distinctions between leisure travel, student mobility, remote working and longer stays are becoming much less clear. As a result, the technology supporting travel will need to become much more flexible and much more responsive to changing needs.

“At the same time, younger travellers are more conscious of the values behind their choices. They want convenience, but they also want transparency. They are asking where their money goes, who benefits from their spending and what impact their travel has on the places they visit. That points to a future in which travel tech is about smarter, more joined-up systems that combine convenience, trust, flexibility and purpose.

“Discovery is also changing. Younger travellers are influenced by communities, creators and peer networks as much as by traditional travel brands. The platforms that succeed will be those that connect inspiration, trust, booking and lived experience in a much more seamless way.”

Where do you see the biggest gaps in the digital infrastructure supporting youth and student travel today?

“It’s still too often channelled through systems designed for mainstream leisure or corporate travel. That doesn’t reflect the reality of how many younger people travel today.

“A young person travelling for study, seasonal work, an internship, volunteering, language learning or a longer period abroad may need transport, accommodation, visa support, student verification, insurance, flexible payments, safeguarding information and local guidance, often all at once. But too often these services sit in separate systems that do not speak to one another.

“There is also a significant gap around trust. Younger travellers, especially those travelling internationally for the first time, need confidence that accommodation is safe, that providers are transparent, that support is available when something goes wrong and that the experience they are booking is genuinely what it claims to be. This is especially important in youth travel, where people are often travelling on tighter budgets and with less experience.

“Another gap is the lack of infrastructure for more fluid and non-linear journeys. Travel is no longer always one trip for one purpose. It may be study followed by travel, remote work combined with exploration or a journey that changes shape several times along the way. The industry still has work to do to build systems that reflect how younger people actually move through the world.”

Have you seen any applications of AI in travel that feel genuinely transformative, and why?

“There are certainly areas where AI has the potential to be genuinely transformative in travel, particularly when it helps reduce complexity. If it can bring together fragmented information, help people navigate choices more easily and remove friction from planning and travelling, that is clearly valuable.

“But it’s important to recognise that fundamentally, travel is about people. It is about the people who are travelling and the people in the communities they travel to. Technology should support those human connections, not replace them.

“One of the risks with AI is that, if everyone relies on the same systems trained on the same datasets, it may direct people towards the same destinations, the same neighbourhoods and the same experiences. Travel then becomes less about discovery and more about repetition.

“The real magic of travel lies in the human moments. The conversation with someone local, the recommendation from a hostel manager, the friendship formed with someone from another country, the exchange of perspectives that changes how you see the world. There will always be a human element to travel because travel is fundamentally about people.

“So the most valuable use of AI is where it helps travellers navigate complexity while still encouraging individuality, exploration and authentic connection. The goal shouldn’t be to automate the soul out of travel, but to make travel easier while protecting what makes it meaningful.”

If global mobility continues to become more fluid, what kinds of platforms or technologies will be needed to support this new generation of travellers?

“We’ll need to move beyond simple travel booking platforms and towards something much more integrated. What this new generation of travellers will need are systems that support mobility as a whole, not just transport or accommodation in isolation.

“That means platforms that can bring together identity, eligibility, payments, accommodation, insurance, compliance and practical support in one place. For a younger traveller moving between countries for study, remote work or a flexible learning experience, the biggest challenge is often not finding inspiration. It is navigating the complexity of actually doing it.

“We will need much better tools around verification, so people can prove who they are and what they are eligible for across borders. We will need better platforms for flexible stays, especially for people moving between short-term, medium-term and longer-term accommodation. We will need systems that can help travellers understand visas, rights, local rules and practical realities in ways that are clear and easy to use.

“But again, I don’t think the answer is purely administrative. The best platforms will also help people connect. Mobility is not only about crossing borders efficiently. It is about arriving somewhere, understanding it and feeling part of it. So the technologies that really stand out will be the ones that combine logistics with belonging, and convenience with community.

“That, to me, is the direction of travel. The sector has spent years digitising transactions. The next step is to build platforms that support the full human experience of mobility.”

Finally, if you could go back to the beginning of your career and tell yourself one thing you wish you’d known then…what would it be?

“Try new things, don’t be afraid to fail.”

Thanks to Andrew Fenner at WYSE Travel Confederation. Join us at LEAP from 31 August – 3 September 2026 to learn directly from the leading minds in travel tech and global mobility.