For investors in travel and transportation, the past 18 months have been at once uncertain, volatile and yet uniquely promising.
While the short-term social and economic impacts of COVID wreaked havoc in the space – it was hard to find a travel-related company a year ago that was not reeling financially and doubtful of its future, from the biggest providers to seed-round startups – an almost whiplash-like effect has now left companies scrambling to hire people, restore or remake their business models and provide adequate service to meet rising demand.
While the Delta variant, the impact of rising costs and the acute shortage of human capital continue to inject uncertainty, the trend toward rising demand is now clear and players are at once investing for the future and assessing the long-term impact of a new set of operating constraints.
Where are we now, and what do the next 18 months hold?
Global lessons of the pandemic
One key learning is that…