Connect with us

Technology

Tripadvisor Launches All-New Trendcast Report on the Future of Travel

Published

on

Trend Predictions Unveiled: From Beauty Voyagers to Nano Neighborhoods

NEEDHAM, Mass., Jan. 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Tripadvisor®, the world’s largest travel platform, today announced the launch of its first ever Trendcast report, exploring the trends reshaping travel and predictions for the years ahead.

Informed by Tripadvisor’s global insights, the Trendcast is based on search, booking and behavioral data, along with user generated content from the platform’s more than one billion reviews and contributions. The inaugural edition is sponsored by leading travel insurance provider Travel Guard, and provides unique forecasting opportunities for the travel industry.

From ‘Beauty Voyagers’ scouring the globe for unique treatments, to those exploring ‘Nano Neighborhoods’ one block at a time, these trends map out the destinations, experiences, and motivations that are redefining the art of travel.

Hilary Fischer-Groban, Head of Research & Insights, Tripadvisor, said: “The Tripadvisor Trendcast isn’t your typical yearly trends report – it’s a glimpse into the future of travel and the consumer behaviors that we believe will shape our industry in the years ahead. Exploring first-hand insights from millions of travelers across the globe has revealed interesting trends and massive cultural swings shaping travel.

“Diving into the emerging trends and cultural shifts through our first-party data, the Tripadvisor Trendcast serves as a roadmap for travelers and industry leaders alike, inspiring the journeys of tomorrow.”

These trends look at the holistic experience of travel – from what’s motivating us, to how we’re exploring and who’s coming with. Check out the top trends and where to experience them:

The Trend: Beauty Voyagers
Enter the next evolution of self-care as beauty minded travelers are making trips out of far-off treatments you can’t get elsewhere—from local rituals to cutting-edge new technologies. Mentions of skincare treatments are up 87% in Tripadvisor forums and beauty bookings are up 400%.

Where: Ayurvedic retreat in Sri Lanka to South Korean spas where snail mucin is as common as sunscreen.

The Trend: Time Tripping
What: Remote and hybrid work has redefined travel. With “work-cations” becoming mainstream, travelers are looking to maximize experiences outside the 9-to-5. Think early morning tours of iconic landmarks like the Vatican, or experiencing a city like Kyoto after hours on a late night bike tour. Tripadvisor searches for ‘open late’ and ’24-hours’ have more than doubled (110%) over the last year.

Where: The Nautilus Maldives has thrown out the clock entirely—no schedules, no closing times – from a 2 a.m. deep-tissue massage to dining at their 24-hour restaurant.

The Trend: Written in the Stars
With the rise of trends like ‘WitchTok’ and interest in the mystical and cosmic realms reaching the mainstream, spiritual experiences are in demand – and people are willing to travel for them. Tripadvisor searches for bookings containing words like ‘astrology,’ ‘tarot’ and ‘full moon’ have shot up over 500% in the last two years.

Where: The Standard in London has rolled out monthly zodiac retreats, matching travelers with experiences tailored to their star sign, while Costa Navarino’s Mandarin Oriental now has crystal healing readings on the spa menu.

The Trend: Investigative Eating
Conversations around food sustainability are up 65% across reviews and forums as people seek out ethically sourced dining options on their travels. Attractions like farms and farmers markets are growing 1,400% faster than the broader food and drink experience category, as travelers take more interest in where their food comes from and how it’s made.

Where: From “steak-cations” at destination restaurants like Don Julio in Argentina to farm-stay visits for seasonal events like maple syrup tapping in Vermont, travelers want to get closer to the process.

The Trend: Nano Neighborhoods
Travelers are growing tired of the tourist trail and trying to cram multiple destinations into one trip. Instead they’re taking their time to immerse themselves in specific neighborhoods, one street at a time, with neighborhood attraction pages on Tripadvisor growing 134% faster than the average for attractions.

Where: Sevilla’s Centro Histórico saw traffic grow by 97% year-on-year (+1,145% faster than the average attraction on Tripadvisor). Chicago’s Wrigleyville saw a 72% year-on-year increase (824% faster than average). 

The Trend: Solo Social
Solo travel isn’t just circumstantial anymore—it’s aspirational—but it doesn’t mean exploring alone. Turning independent adventures into shared experiences, over one third (36%) of solo travelers said ‘meeting new people’ was a primary motivation for their trips and are 60% more likely to mention ‘making friends’ in their reviews. The industry is catching up with the needs of solo travelers, with solo cabins on cruise liners to solo-friendly menus at hot new restaurants.

Where: Try this award winning small group tour of London’s historical pubs or make new friends in far flung places like Iceland’s on this full-day tour of the south coast.

To explore the full report and learn more about the trends visit: www.trendcast.tripadvisor.com 

Methodology
The Tripadvisor Trendcast is rooted in data from Tripadvisor’s global user base of the millions of travelers who use the site. This study looked at searches, reviews, clicks, page views, bookings and conversations happening in Tripadvisor forums over the last two years to track shifts and trends.

About Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor, the world’s largest travel guidance platform*, helps millions of people each month** become better travelers, from planning to booking to taking a trip. Travelers across the globe use Tripadvisor’s website and app to discover where to stay, what to do and where to eat based on guidance from those who have been there before. With more than a billion reviews and contributions, travelers turn to Tripadvisor to find deals on accommodations, book experiences, reserve tables at delicious restaurants and discover great places nearby.

Tripadvisor LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tripadvisor, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP). The subsidiaries of Tripadvisor, Inc. own and operate a portfolio of travel media brands and businesses, operating under various websites and apps.

* Source: SimilarWeb, unique users de-duplicated monthly, January 2025
** Source: Tripadvisor internal log files

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripadvisor-launches-all-new-trendcast-report-on-the-future-of-travel-302359963.html

SOURCE Tripadvisor

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

Published

on

By

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

Continue Reading

Technology

Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

Published

on

By

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

Continue Reading

Technology

Air Products to Expand Industrial Gas Supply for Samsung Electronics’ Next-Generation Semiconductor Fab in South Korea

Published

on

By

New investment underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Korea and its leading role in the global semiconductor industry 

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Air Products (NYSE:APD), a world-leading industrial gases company and serving Samsung globally, today announced it has been selected by Samsung to supply industrial gases for its new advanced semiconductor fab in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Under the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate multiple state-of-the-art production facilities and a bulk specialty gas supply system to supply nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen for Samsung’s new semiconductor fab. The new facilities are expected to come onstream in multiple phases from 2028 through 2030.

Air Products has a long track record of executing multiple phase expansions in Pyeongtaek to support Samsung’s growing manufacturing needs. This latest project represents Air Products’ largest investment to date in the semiconductor industry and will establish Pyeongtaek as the company’s single largest operations site globally supporting the electronics industry. 

“Air Products is honored to be selected once again by Samsung and to have their continued confidence as a trusted partner supporting their strategic growth plans,” said SR Kim, President, Air Products Korea. “This significant investment reinforces Air Products’ role as a leading global supplier to the semiconductor industry and underscores our long-standing commitment to supporting our strategic customers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service.”

Air Products has served the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to many of the world’s leading technology companies. The company has operated in Korea for more than 50 years and has established a strong position in electronics and manufacturing sectors.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 85 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets and generating a cleaner future. The Company supplies essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, medical and food. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest clean hydrogen projects, supporting the transition to low- and zero-carbon energy in the industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. Through its sale of equipment businesses, the Company also provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers globally.

Air Products had fiscal 2025 sales of $12 billion from operations in approximately 50 countries. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedInXFacebook or Instagram.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. While forward-looking statements are made in good faith and based on assumptions, expectations and projections that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information, actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors, including the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-to-expand-industrial-gas-supply-for-samsung-electronics-next-generation-semiconductor-fab-in-south-korea-302757497.html

SOURCE Air Products

Continue Reading

Trending