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In a speech at the ITB Berlin travel conference Tuesday, Jan-Frederik Valentin, general partner at Ennea Capital Partners, said investors were sometimes reluctant to look at the travel industry.
“You’d imagine with the industry having record numbers across different sectors that investment is also at an all time high. But it’s not yet,” Valentin said.
Tourism is roughly 10% of global GPD but it’s only 5% of global investment, Valentin said.
One factor has been rising interest rates, he said. Another is that investors see travel as “an industry that’s highly cyclical and at the behest of political crises.”
He added that banks still often had an issue giving money to fund travel deals.
However, he said the impact of world events is “usually very short” for the tourism industry.
“For example, let’s look at Israel and the impact on Egypt. That lasted for two months, now it’s back. This is the translation work we have to do with investors,” Valentin added.
Other investors during a panel discussion said travel is more stable than it is commonly viewed.
“It’s become a very interesting moment in the investment world for travel companies. People realize after Covid, the worst test an industry could go through, it showed a lot of resilience,” said Morgann Lesné, partner at Cambon Partners.
“When you combine size, plus resilience, plus fun… It’s one of the best industries to invest in,” he added.
One of the worst mistakes entrepreneurs make, he said, was “going to fundraise too early.”
If entrepreneurs want to “play a larger game” they should be present in Germany, said Jaroslaw Czernek, Investment Partner at Rockaway Capital.
“It’s the largest travel market in Europe, it’s a very developed tourist industry. I see it that all the players across the board ultimately want to be present and successful in Germany. This is the pinnacle of the industry,” he said.
Skift reported last month AGC Partners estimates that there were roughly 180 M&A deals in travel tech last year, accounting for roughly one-third of all tech deals. That number has been steadily increasing since the low of roughly 77 deals in 2021.
Investment in travel startups has also picked up. Last year, Skift tracked more than 200 startups that raised $13.1 billion. Even removing the outlier — Waymo, which raised $5.5 billion — the $7.6 billion total was more than double the total from 2023 despite there being roughly the same number of deals overall.
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