South Africa, Feb. 2 -- Tech is moving faster than the traveller, and if we're not careful, we'll build very clever systems for people who actually just want to feel seen, safe and connected. So, for me, steering the future in travel is about balance: using AI, data and automation to remove friction, but doubling down on the human bits that actually make people book, return and recommend.

Here are the things I think will shape our sector in 2026 and beyond.

1. AI meets empathy

We all know AI is going to sit right in the middle of travel trip planning, pricing, language, customer care and itinerary curation. That part is a given. The real shift from here will be how we combine AI with human judgment.

After all, people still want to tal...