Airbnb CEO: Travel is the antidote to endless scrolling

Why it matters: The pandemic ushered in new habits for living and working remotely, but people are craving human connection more than ever.

State of play: Time spent in front of screens increased dramatically during the pandemic.

• Mental health declined as lockdowns and remote work kept people isolated.

What they're saying: Our offices are now in our homes, movie theaters in our living rooms and shopping is done on our phones, said Chesky.

• "I think we want a means to leave our house and to get off screens. And I think that's what travel is going to do in the coming decade," he said.
• "The type of travel that’s going to emerge is not necessarily old school business travel [or] people with selfie sticks in front of a landmark."

• "It’s going to be the reason why travel was special in the first place — connecting with other people, [whether that's] connecting to your friends and family to reunite, to go to conferences to meet one another or to just make friendships. ”

What to watch: Pre-pandemic, travel was dominated by the top 100 cities in the world, according to Chesky.

• But now, people are going to 100,000 cities and discovering many more places.