As we hang up our lanyards after the first-ever SXSW London, we highlight five standout discussions from across the festival that have a direct bearing on the future of travel. Robbie Hodges reports

That’s a wrap on SXSW London! Last week, the world’s innovators in music, arts, technology and marketing descended upon the hipster-turned-fintech-hub of Shoreditch for the famed, multidisciplinary festival – bringing the festival’s signature American verve to East London.

Despite this being the first time that SXSW has packed up and left its home turf in Austin, Texas, the programme was light on travel industry insights. Still, among the bulging schedule of talks and panels, there were countless initiatives that caught Globetrender’s attention. 

We’ve whittled down our collective observations to the key moments that triggered those precious “a-ha” moments – nuggets of innovation inspiration for marketers and strategists across the travel sector. 

Intrepid Travel on DEI during the age of Trump

A pressing subject as we enter a notably lacklustre month of Pride celebrations; one stymied by anxiety and corporate cuts to DEI budgets. An impressive panel consisted of Intrepid Travel CEO, James Thornton, the CEO of Here we Flo, Susan C. Allen, Bronwen Foster-Butler, CMO of Finisterre and the FT’s Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Rukasana Bhaijee. Thornton offered a poignant reminder of travel’s ability to broaden perspectives – and the role this has played in developing his own, open and transparent leadership style. Meanwhile, Bronwen Foster-Butler recalled the trauma of a Pride campaign seized upon by alt-right trolls and the company’s strategy for LGBTQ+ support since. “We do allyship a bit more quietly, so we feature queer and trans athletes throughout our campaigns all year,” she said. “We create through community, not for community.” 

Our take: This panel spoke to the Stronger Together mega-trend featuring in Globetrender’s internal trend framework and explored during our Macro-Trend Workshop. Put simply, as the world becomes increasingly polarised, tolerance and acceptance of minority travellers is in jeopardy. And while the expansion of geographical horizons might lead to greater liberalisation and less bigotry, we believe businesses will need to play a more active role in protecting and uplifting those who have historically been overlooked. For further reading, check out Globetrender and Intrepid Travel's Not Hot List report. 

Revolutionising life and longevity

“Inactivity comes from a condition called ‘present bias’,” explained Sweatcoin CEO, Anton Derlyatka, in a panel on longevity. “And we’re tackling that by gamifying daily activity”. The platform boasts over 200 million registered users around the world, but for those unacquainted with the brand, Sweatcoin is a digital platform that rewards users for engaging in physical activity with financial rewards. One of the key challenges, echoed by fellow panelists, Dr. Rebecca Love of Vira Health and Dmitry Gursky at Flo, was creating change that lasts. “Awareness [of healthy habits] is important, but actually changing behaviour is difficult,” said Gursky. 

Our take: Whether it’s longevity or another significant lifestyle change, personal transformations are hard to facilitate. This was a central discussion on Globetrender’s debut Retreat. As the trend for transformative travel gains ground, the travel brands of the future will provide services beyond the trip – becoming lifestyle concierges that deliver “integration” or ongoing benefits long after guests have made it back home. For examples of brands implementing post-trip support, see The Aerial BVI and Beckley Retreats.

The Power of Community

Given Reddit’s dramatic growth in recent years, the talk delivered by the platform’s VP of Community, Laura Nestler, was top of our agenda. She conducted a full semantic breakdown of “community”, highlighting how the term has been misappropriated by brands. One key takeaway is to recognise the difference between an audience and community. The former receives messages, and the latter is a network of individuals who both send and receive messages. Having pushed community to the fore while working at platforms like Yelp and Duolingo, she outlined three crucial components of community empowerment – relinquish control, believe in the good, and accept risk. 

Our take: Reddit’s expansion is phenomenal, growing from 73m users in Q4 2023 to 101.7m in Q4 2024. In an online world governed by paid ads, in which users can feel like commodities themselves, Reddit feels like a refreshing return to base – an honest forum not yet breached by brand-sponsored messaging. While we see Reddit impacting travel behaviour (see London’s lovebombing campaign, mentioned in our Macro-Trend Workshop), it remains to be seen how brands will use the platform to their own strategic advantage. 

The future of mental health and psychedelics

Globetrender also caught a panel on psychedelics that featured Professor David Nutt, once the British government’s chief drug advisor who was famously sacked in 2009 for saying that ecstasy and LSD were less harmful than alcohol. Along with screenwriter Rose Cartwright and founder of Funga, Milana Abensperg, conversation covered the dangers of overlooking systemic issues (such as poverty or family instability) when diagnosing medical mental health treatments; the cost of untreated mental illness to society; and government inaction and fear of alternative therapies. “Psychedelics aren’t a silver bullet,” were Milana’s parting words. “But they are a doorway – to healing, to connection, to possibility. With guidance, education, and community, they can change lives.” 

Our take: Psychedelic travel experiences are often included in conversations around “wellness”, which fails to recognise their legitimacy as medical treatments for mental ill-health. While governments nervously inch towards acceptance of psychedelics, the travel sector has a vital role to play in raising awareness at a grassroots level – offering consumers across countries the opportunity to experience the benefits in a controlled environment.

Powering our future wirelessly from space

How will the AI revolution be powered, let alone the space tourism sector? Sam Adlen, Co-CEO of Space Solar demonstrated the company’s innovative satellites – 400m wide contraptions suspended in the earth’s orbit that beam solar energy down to earth, 24/7. Unlike terrestrial solar panels which are only useful during daylight hours, Space Solar provides a continuous energy baseload, with a model that’s both scalable and affordable. 

Our take: The stratosphere offers so much more than suborbital joyrides. Travel providers who are considering their role in the new space tourism economy would do well to think about other verticals that could support their ambitions from solar energy to earth observation to in-space R&D. The reputational rewards are there for the taking.