Travel
Where does value flow when people move?
Performance
When aggregate demand hits a record high and operator margins are still compressing, where is the value going?
Platform
The travel industry's platform layer is bifurcated: a consumer-facing AI layer undergoing rapid disruption and an enterprise-facing infrastructure layer locked in legacy systems. The disruption window opens precisely at this gap.
Players
The travel ecosystem has five counterparty archetypes operating simultaneously: travelers as both customers and content producers, physical operators as both suppliers and experience creators, platform intermediaries as both infrastructure and extraction engines, technology infrastructure as the silent enabler, and regulators as the rule-setters that determine who can operate and at what cost. See also the ecosystem counterparty model.
Principles
Who controls the coordination layer controls the margin — so who controls the coordination layer in travel?
Protocols
The travel value chain is a six-stage coordination system: from intent through to post-experience feedback. Each stage is a potential profit extraction point; the structural gap analysis asks which stages are under-competitive and where coordination friction enables new entrant wedges.