View From Afar
View From Afar
Podcast Description
View From Afar is a podcast by the travel industry, for the travel industry. The travel industry is constantly evolving, and in our latest podcast, View From Afar, Afar editors talk with the changemakers—the CEOs, tourism experts, hoteliers, and more—who are making travel better for consumers, and the world.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers evolving trends, innovations, and news within the travel industry, with specific episodes spotlighting topics like sustainability in cruising, industry value propositions, and unique travel experiences. Examples include discussions on hydrogen-powered ships, insights from hotel brands investing in cruising, and interviews with industry pioneers like Barbara Muckermann of Kempinski Hotels.
View From Afar is the travel industry podcast made by the travel industry, for the travel industry. Hosted by the editors of Afar, the show sits down with the CEOs, tourism experts, hoteliers, and destination leaders shaping how the world moves. These are travel industry interviews with the people actually making the decisions, from national tourism boards to the newest hotel brands, often recorded in the room where it happens, including live from major travel industry events like IPW.
Every episode is a real conversation, not a press release. Afar editors talk with travel changemakers about what the next era of travel will be built on: the rise of sustainable tourism, smarter destination management, the travel innovation reshaping the guest experience, and the travel industry challenges no one wants to say out loud. Expect tourism experts interviews that move from travel marketing strategies and travel consumer insights to local tourism initiatives, destination highlights, and the future of travel and tourism development. Past guests have led the tourism efforts of entire states and cities, run major transit and hospitality brands, and steered destinations through record years and hard pivots alike.
If your work touches travel, think of this as your briefing. As a travel podcast built for professionals, View From Afar delivers the travel industry news and travel industry insights that help destination marketers, hospitality industry leaders, tour operators, and travel professionals stay ahead of travel trends 2026 and beyond. It is travel storytelling with a purpose: honest, curious, and grounded in the real experiences of the people building the business of travel.
Afar has spent more than a decade telling travelers where to go and why it matters. View From Afar turns that same lens on the industry itself, giving you a front-row seat to the ideas, the debates, and the travel experiences defining what comes next. New episodes bring new voices and new destinations to the table.
Follow View From Afar wherever you listen, and join the conversation shaping the future of travel.
Welcome to a special IPW 2026 series of View From Afar. In this episode, recorded live from the conference floor, Visit Phoenix president and CEO Ron Price sits down with Afar deputy editor Michelle Baran for one of our most surprising travel industry interviews yet: a look at Phoenix tourism, and why so many first-time visitors leave saying, “I had no idea.”
Ron has worked in tourism for 30 years, with a career that spans Marriott, Visit San Antonio, and the Arlington Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau. He joined Visit Phoenix in 2021, and under his leadership the city has hosted the Super Bowl, the Women’s Final Four, and, next year, the NBA All-Star Game. In 2024 he launched the Phoenix Sports and Events Commission, giving the country’s fifth-largest city a coordinated way to compete for major events.
In this episode, Ron and Michelle discuss:
- Why the Sonoran is the wettest desert in the world, and how the lushness keeps surprising visitors who arrived expecting Wile E. Coyote
- The Phoenix Sports and Events Commission, the return of the Viva PHX culture festival, and the strategy of growing youth and amateur sports alongside championship events
- The TSMC effect, the largest international investment in American history, and what $165 billion in semiconductor manufacturing means for international flights, including two new direct routes from Taiwan
- How Waymo made Phoenix the only American city where an autonomous vehicle picks you up at the airport, a case study in the destination management and travel innovation now reshaping Phoenix tourism
- The Canadian snowbird market’s stabilization, and what doubling down on a hesitant market looks like in practice
- The honest conversation about summer heat, the city’s heat-mitigation investments, and the no-daylight-savings advantage that makes early-morning hikes possible
- Plus: a Pan Am-themed speakeasy where the LED windows simulate a flight to San Francisco, the 22 Indigenous nations within the valley, and a passionate endorsement of Phoenix’s Michelin-bound culinary scene.
This is one in a series of travel industry interviews and tourism experts interviews recorded live at IPW 2026, part of View From Afar‘s ongoing look at travel trends 2026, destination highlights, and the changemakers shaping the future of Phoenix tourism and beyond.
Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome to View From Afar
00:01:30 Playing Tourist at the Biltmore
00:03:00 What Surprises Visitors
00:04:30 Building a Sports and Events Engine
00:07:30 The TSMC Effect
00:10:00 Why Canadians Still Matter
00:13:00 New Markets, New Stories
00:15:30 Reframing the Heat
00:18:30 Speakeasies and Indigenous Nations
Stay Connected
- Subscribe to View From Afar to catch all our IPW 2026 episodes this week.
- Follow @AfarMedia on Instagram and TikTok for behind-the-scenes IPW content.
- Sign up for our travel industry newsletter, Afar Advisor.
- Rate and review the show to help other travel professionals discover these insights.
- Explore our other podcasts, Travel Talesand Unpacked.
This IPW 2026 special series was recorded live. View From Afar is a production of Afar Media and a part of Airwave Media’s podcast network (email [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast). The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Michelle Baran and Billie Cohen. Music composition from Epidemic Sound.
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Disclaimer
This podcast’s information is provided for general reference and was obtained from publicly accessible sources. The Podcast Collaborative neither produces nor verifies the content, accuracy, or suitability of this podcast. Views and opinions belong solely to the podcast creators and guests.
For a complete disclaimer, please see our Full Disclaimer on the archive page. The Podcast Collaborative bears no responsibility for the podcast’s themes, language, or overall content. Listener discretion is advised. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for more details.