Stock markets, of course, try and price future earnings. As a result investors have discounted the Financial Times’s estimated $710bn year-on-year loss of revenue to the travel industry from covid and whether it will continue to bleed money if people struggle to travel still. Of crucial importance to accommodation and travel companies is whether the disruption in corporate travel will revive or is more akin to the accelerated decline of bricks-and-mortar retailers at the hands of their online rivals.
Airbnb’s advantage, of course, is it leverages other people’s assets to build its business. By renting out people’s homes rather than spending capital on infrastructure, such as planes and hotels, Airbnb can potentially adjust if there are more or fewer travellers.
Other business models are less clear-cut to succeed and so dealmaking slowed considerably last year with money and interest instead shifting towards virtual business operators, such as online event platforms, such as Hopin and Brella (which will host the GCVDigitalForum.com from 21-27 January), and video calls, such as Zoom.
