They're a hotelier's favorite guest. A business traveler (whose company is paying for their room and meals) who transforms into a leisure guest after deciding to extend their business trip with extra days reserved just for fun.

It may not be surprising but a recent study from the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that "Millennials lead the way in using newer travel services. "The survey, in partnership with American Express, showed that travelers ages 18 to 34 are more interested than other travelers in ride share services like Uber (46%) and room-finding services like Airbnb (35%.)

A group of 200 industry food tourism industry leaders met last month at the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian, Spain, at a conference co-hosted by the United Nation's World Tourism Organization. The purpose of the conference was to define food tourism and debate the value and future of the industry. The result? The consensus is that food and drink tourism is here to stay. Why? It's mostly about the money.

The worldwide cruise industry is a $131-billion dollar business. For luxury cruises, nearly 90% of sales were booked through travel agents. This was the launching point for the Luxury Cruise Lines Discussion Panel at CLIA's cruise3sixty 2015 event in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this past month.

Taking photos and staying in contact with family are the top two reasons travelers pull out their smartphones while vacationing. According to MDG Advertising, 68% of mobile device owners use their smartphones primarily to keep in touch and almost half prefer to use them to take photos and videos, creating a climate perfect for Instagram to come out on top.

Two recent reports provide valuable insights for travel marketers.