Six Travel Companies Make the TIME 100 Influential List

On Wednesday, TIME released its annual list of the most influential companies in the world, an annual list that seeks to highlight the businesses, and the people, that are changing the future.

The list is compiled by the magazine editors who seek “nominations from across sectors, and poll our global network of contributors and correspondents, as well as outside experts.” The team then evaluates each company on key factors, which include impact, innovation, ambition, and success.

This year’s list, which is available in full here, includes six travel, or travel-adjacent, companies, all titans or leaders in their segment or pioneers trying to disrupt or innovate the status quos. Here are the six that managed to make it onto this year’s list:

1. Intrepid Travel
The social conscious, adventure tour operator Intrepid Travel was one of the companies in the “Leader” section of TIME’s list because of its dedication to responsible globetrotting. It was one of two travel companies on the “Leader” list, which also includes NVidia, Patagonia, Chipotle, and more.

“People want to travel more responsibly—both environmentally and socially—and business is booming for the certified B Corp, which saw record-breaking booking days after launching a flight-free program (and more than 100 Indigenous-led tours) last year,” TIME wrote for Intrepid, which recently spoke to TMR.

“This honor is a testament to the power of travel; not only does exploring the world provide thought-provoking, incredible, fun experiences – it also has the power to transform our world and create more resilient communities,” said James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel. 

“This proves that our style of locally led, small-group adventures is no longer a ‘niche’. Our way of traveling is actually helping to shape the future of travel. As an industry, we can support more responsible travel habits and make a substantial difference by using our collective power, influence and voice to help make the world a better place,” he added.

2. SpaceX
The other company on the “Leader” list is SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space exploration company, one of several that are working towards making the dream of space tourism flights a reality.

“Last year alone, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched 61 Falcon 9 flights—or one every six days—making it the world’s workhorse rocket. It’s just the start,” TIME writes.

SpaceX is currently flying some commercial flights—last month it launched a commercial flight to the International Space Station with four private citizens onboard—and the expectation is that the company will have a huge part to play in the proliferation of the human space tourism industry, a growing segment that includes others like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Space Perspective.

3. Disney
The entertainment and tourism giant Disney landed in the “Titans” category on the list, next to the likes of IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Mattel, and more. In its description, TIME marks Disney for its role as a corporate citizen, in particular for its ongoing political showdown. It also makes note of its success in the film industry—in 2022, it was the world’s top-grossing film studio for the seventh straight year.

According to the latest stats from AECOM, Disney also owns 8 of the 10 most visited theme parks in the world, a list that is led by its Magic Kingdom Theme Park in Orlando (17.13 million guests in 2022) at number one and its Disneyland Park in Anaheim at number two (16.88 million guests in 2022). Others on the list include Tokyo Disneyland at number three, Tokyo DisneySea at number four, Animal Kingdom at number six, and Epcot at number seven.

Just two of the top 10 are non-Disney parks—Universal Studios Japan, which came in at number five, and Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, China.

4 and 5. Eviation Aircraft and ZeroAvia
Israel-based electric plane startup Eviation Aircraft landed in the “Pioneer” category, alongside ZeroAvia, a British/American company building zero-emission aircraft. Both companies are aiming to help tackle a growing problem for the travel industry—carbon emissions. By 2050, the aviation sector may produce more than a quarter of global CO2 emissions if jet engine usage continues to rise.

Eviation’s goal is to create and supply all-electric planes to airlines and transportation companies around the globe and it has already proven successful on a small scale, completing the first flight of an all-electric passenger aircraft last September in Washington State. It also has already partnerships—so far, the company has orders for more than 400 planes, worth over $4 billion, with major customers like Air New Zealand and DHL.

ZeroAvia, on the other hand, is creating a plane that draws power from fuel cells with a lithium-battery assist. It has also already completed successful flights, and, by 2027, it hopes to be able to fly an 80-seat aircraft for up to 700 nautical miles.

Of ZeroAvia, TIME writes “Long-haul flights are the greatest source, by far, of the aviation industry’s carbon emissions. ZeroAvia’s solution: a plane with a hydrogen-­electric engine that primarily draws power from fuel cells, with a lithium-battery assist.”

6. LVMH
Called “the king of luxury,” Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also known as LVMH, lands in the “Titans” category, alongside Disney.

Probably more well-known for its luxury goods subsidiaries, a list that includes Tiffany & Co., Christian Dior, Fendi, and more, LVMH still has a strong presence in travel. It owns Belmond, the luxury travel company that operates hotels, river cruises, trains, and safaris, along with Jardin d’Acclimatation, a children’s amusement park just north of Paris, and Cheval Blanc Hotels.

Of LVMH, TIME writes “luxury-goods giant LVMH became the first European company to surpass the $500 billion mark this April, joining the top 10 largest businesses in the world by market capitalization and making its CEO, Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest person in the process.”