The era of pure volume-driven wholesaling, rigid corporate structures, and opaque transactions is facing an existential deadline. Taking its place is a rising generation of leaders who are stepping into decades-old family legacies and gradually transforming them. These emerging executives are not merely inheriting the platforms built by their predecessors; they are re-evaluating how these businesses should operate for the future.
To map this generational handover and passing of the baton in the legacy of longstanding travel businesses, Travel Trade Journal interviewed six next-generation innovators steering prominent travel enterprises to see how the new guard is dismantling legacy friction to architect the next 30 years of the travel trade.
Shelving Redundant Practices and Operational Inefficiencies
Traditional systems involving static contract sheets and rigid workflows might now be obsolete for the new generation, who are viewing these practices as structural bottlenecks. This shift begins at the very first point of contact.
Rashmi Rajaram, Executive – Operations and Marketing, Narmada Holidays, a third-generation travel professional whose company was founded by her maternal grandfather, D. Gopinathan, in 2005, identified a different kind of structural friction in the habit of working without a defined client budget from the first interaction. She noted, “This has led to an ‘expectation gap,’ where a traveller’s vision and their budget are increasingly misaligned.” Beyond initial consultations, the modern demand for immediacy is exposing outdated technology across the supply chain.
Targeting the traditional reliance on singular distribution streams, Anish Muthigi, Director, Uniglobe Focus Tours and Travel, a second-generation entrepreneur in the business established by his uncle, Venkatesh Muthigi, in 2012, asserted, “One practice that is definitely ripe for retirement is relying only on traditional ‘blue screen’ ticketing systems when quoting airfare.” The tolerance for turnaround lag is equally thin in accommodation sourcing.
Gaurav Punjabi, Founder, CozyMoons, represents the second generation of the travel business established by his father, Rajesh Punjabi, through Cozy Travels in 1983. Building on that legacy, Gaurav launched CozyMoons in 2018 with a focus on couple-centric and experiential travel. He believes certain offline practices have become entirely obsolete in today’s travel landscape. He explained, “There are a few, but to pick one: writing offline to wholesalers for international hotel rates. In these instant times, clients expect quotes within minutes.”
As operational inefficiencies are phased out, the end product is transforming from a bulk commodity into a curated narrative. The broader industry sentiment is steadily shifting away from outdated operational methods.
Jovita Gandhi, Director – Marketing and Strategic Relations, Transglobal Holidays, a second-generation professional in the company founded by her father Kamal Gandhi in 1999, observed that the traditional obsession with volume-led selling is gradually losing relevance. She said, “The heavy focus on volume-led selling is becoming outdated. We are moving towards a more experience-led approach.”
Similarly, Nivaan Vashi, Head – Products and Marketing, Nivalink, a second-generation leader in the company founded by his father Niraj Vashi in 2000, believes the industry must move away from standardised itinerary building.
“The biggest outdated practice today is static, copy-paste itineraries built around availability rather than actual experiences,” he remarked.
While automation is becoming increasingly important, most leaders agree that human expertise remains irreplaceable in complex travel planning.
Krish Dalwani, CEO, Krisia Holidays, represents the second generation of the company founded by his parents, Namrata and Suraj Dalwani, in 1994. He explained that while standardised hotel quoting should eventually become automated, specialised destinations still demand strong advisory skills. “For standardised global hotels, manual quoting should disappear. But destinations like the Maldives still require expert curation because price alone often creates a mismatch between traveller expectations and the actual product,” he said.
Diversifying Business Portfolio
Diversification for this generation means deepening domain expertise and building high-value, defensible niches while actively fighting to attract top talent. As margins in mass-market bookings compress, legacy frameworks are being re-engineered for high-touch facilitation. Making even small changes to a long-running business does not come easy. However, the new generation, fuelled by youthful ambition, is unafraid of putting forth their unique perspective in the market and moving beyond their core family business model.
Dalwani is pivoting from a pure wholesaler model into a modern framework. He shared, “We have moved from being purely a wholesaler to building a more hybrid business, which is very service-driven; we work with agents in real time, almost like a concierge layer on top of the technology.”
The move towards hyper-specialisation is becoming a vital differentiator across the trade. Vashi is driving his expansion by moving away from generic country packages. He explained, “Instead of generic country packages, we are going deeper into destinations like Uganda, New Zealand, and Finland, positioning them around specific experiences.”
Capitalising on similar experiential macro trends, Rajaram is channelling her passion into niche culinary journeys. She stated, “One of my newest passions is building out our Curated Gastronomy Experiences. Selling travel is uniquely appealing to driven professionals. It is not a 9-to-5 job; it is a lifestyle where you are literally responsible for some of the best moments of a person’s life.”
Muthigi is entirely transforming his firm’s scope. He detailed, “Today, it is important to evolve into a more complete travel solutions provider, one that offers technology, accommodation, immigration support, ground transport, and more.” The focus on intrinsic motivation over strict hierarchy is especially crucial in the premium sector.
Punjabi is moving deliberately into a specialised sector. He remarked, “Moving into the high-end curated travel space: where we create premium end-to-end journeys for couples and families. When competing for talent against tech firms, we foster, champion, and empower our team in more ways than just monetary.”
Securing future market share means speaking the language of the next wave of both talent and buyers. Gandhi is expanding her firm’s footprint by engaging the next generation. She observed, “We are focusing on building stronger brand recognition for Transglobal Holidays with social media, which helps us stay relevant to younger, content-driven audiences.”
Beyond Gross Booking Value
For years, the health of a travel enterprise has been measured by one towering metric: Gross Booking Value (GBV). While numbers never lie, it is also important to measure the emotional depth of the customer experience to gain a more holistic understanding of business growth. Reflecting this shift away from pure volume metrics, Muthigi explained, “In my view, Gross Booking Value is not the gold standard even today.” He defined success instead as a combination of bottom line, customer delight, retention, and employee satisfaction.
This holistic approach signals a maturation of the trade, in which qualitative brand loyalty outpaces temporary spikes in sales. Gandhi agreed that the focus must completely transition. She stated, “For us, success will be defined by repeat customers, strong brand recall and meaningful experiences, not just volume.”
Dalwani maintained that top-line metrics can be deceiving, especially for modern operators balancing intricate agent networks. He remarked, “GBV looks good on paper, but it is not everything. We care more about repeat business and how much of an agent’s business we actually handle.” True profitability is anchored in trust rather than sheer scale.
Punjabi argued that financial volume metrics lack long-term viability. He noted, “GBV, EBITDA, and other fancy terms are great, but neither organic nor sustainable without loyal patrons. We prioritise repeat ratio over everything else as the ultimate measure of success.”
The challenge of staying culturally relevant is prompting forward-thinking leaders to redefine their impact metrics entirely. Rajaram looks toward a different horizon. She stated, “GBV will always be a health indicator, but for me, the real win in due course will be Demographic Resonance.” She aims to meet modern expectations, declaring that her personal goal is to prove that she can draw in her own generation.
Vashi finds that engagement depth is a far more meaningful indicator of value creation. He observed, “Gross Booking Value will always matter, but it is not the full picture. For us, repeat clients and depth of engagement are far more meaningful.” Ultimately, repeat engagement and customer loyalty are becoming more important than pure transaction volume.
Operational AI as the Invisible Assistant
Generative AI has transitioned from a futuristic novelty into an invisible, mandatory backend engine for the new guard. In the travel trade, where speed-to-market and hyper-personalisation often dictate market share, this technological pivot is no longer a luxury but an operational baseline. However, across the sector, the consensus points away from total automation and toward strategic augmentation. Vashi views the technology with measured pragmatism. He explained, “We are using AI more as an assistive layer rather than something that replaces people.” While it helps speed up structuring itineraries, the final output is always human-led.
This human-in-the-loop methodology is particularly critical when parsing complex data sets and historical booking patterns. Rajaram leverages AI for data analysis. She stated, “We are currently using it to analyse years of our own past itineraries to give clients ‘Ready-to-Reckon’ insights on budgets.” However, she sharply warned against over-reliance, observing that while it is great for summarising reviews or mapping out practical logistics, AI is still not up to the mark when it comes to true discovery.
Punjabi completes the consensus on backend optimisation. He noted, “We are actively adapting AI to improve efficiency on operational processes and automate day-to-day tasks.” Scaling this efficiency is the quintessential objective for modern travel enterprises aiming to future-proof their operations against demanding consumer expectations.
Gandhi sees immense predictive value in the technology. She remarked, “It will allow us to better understand customer preferences, predict trends, and create more personalised travel experiences at scale.” Indeed, while an algorithm can efficiently optimise routes or streamline content generation, it cannot yet replicate the nuanced intuition required for bespoke travel curation. Thus, the immediate focus remains on streamlining internal workflows.
Muthigi has similarly woven AI into daily operations. He emphasised, “At this point, using AI is not optional for us; it is built into how we work.” The goal is not to replace human judgment, but to make teams faster, sharper, and more accurate. On the other hand, Dalwani utilises AI strictly for practical speed. He explained, “We use AI where it actually saves time, mainly to pull together information faster and support quicker responses.” The perception of AI in the travel trade has matured; it is no longer viewed as an existential threat to the consultant, but as the ultimate co-pilot, helping professionals focus more on customer relationships and personalised service.
Balancing Innovation with Legacy Wisdom
For new leaders, introducing fresh ideas to a boardroom that has consistently run a business for several years can be quite daunting. However, a healthy business environment is one that makes space for new voices and actively seeks to blend fresh ideas without losing touch with the foundational vision of the business.
Implementing this agility, however, often requires bridging a complex divide within established enterprises. The overarching challenge lies in introducing modern, tech-driven pivots without alienating the foundational leadership. Punjabi stressed the absolute importance of finding a middle ground with the founding generation. He advised, “It is key to respect their ideologies, as they have built this from scratch.”
A calculated approach to modernising legacy structures is essential for securing internal buy-in. Vashi navigates the generational divide in the boardroom practically, favouring proof of concept over pitching theory. He shared, “Instead of pushing for large changes upfront, I prefer to build something on a smaller scale, prove that it works, and then expand it.”
Muthigi drives this natural family tension through open transparency. He detailed, “We work through it by discussing the worst-case scenario, defining what is acceptable, and agreeing on the ground rules before moving forward.” Gandhi pointed out that the pandemic completely changed their operational mindset. She stated, “The pandemic taught us that disruptions can come anytime, so the focus now is on building flexibility and faster decision-making.”
Rather than framing this transition as a conflict, many leaders recognise the value of combining inherited industry wisdom with fresh perspectives. Dalwani views the generational dynamic not as a clash, but as a complementary blend of experience and modern thinking. He observed, “It is usually just different perspectives, not really a clash; they come from experience, and I come from a more current way of operating.” The combination of industry experience and modern agility is helping these businesses become more adaptable and future-ready.
Translating this philosophy into customer experiences, Rajaram, whose family business was founded by her maternal grandfather, focuses on building flexibility into the core of every itinerary to better navigate global disruptions. She explained that her team is focused on “designing itineraries with ‘swap-ability’ in mind, allowing for interchangeable destinations or components where possible.”
