The travel experience has evolved immensely over the years. Think about it, the biggest luxury at 35,000 feet used to be mediocre meals. Today, you have Wi-Fi access, DirecTV and On Demand programming - on your own, personal TV! - that enables you to be productive or entertained while on-board. And remember the travel agent? Your smartphone has replaced him, putting find-the-best-fare abilities in the palm of your hand.
The industry continues to evolve rapidly, and that's why Rafat Ali founded Skift, a B2B and B2C content site geared toward sharing travel intelligence, earlier this year.
"The travel industry is a very fragmented, complex and global industry, comprised of giant intersecting subsectors of airlines, hotels, tourism, cruises and tech," says Ali. "Much like every other industry sectors, these til-now-silos are collapsing because of digital...and consumers are jumping across all kinds of traditionally defined value chains using online and mobile tools." Skift puts an information layer atop the complex industry, helping travel professionals and professional travellers make smarter decisions about travel.
"Think WebMD for online health information," explains Ali, who previously founded and sold PaidContent. After the sale, he travelled for a year and a half, visiting remote places that required him to collect information from myriad sources, including old-school discussion forums. With experience in media, he knew there had to be a better way for people to find the information they need for top-notch travel planning…
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