How Overlooked Markets Can Reveal Better Business Opportunities
Why overlooked places can reveal better opportunities
The useful idea here is simple: attention often makes a destination or a market more expensive and harder to stand out in. I saw that firsthand last year in Yamagata, Japan, where I joined a sake-brewing workshop led by a sixth-generation brewer. I could have gone to Kyoto for cherry blossoms or Tokyo for sushi. Yamagata, which many travelers haven’t heard of, offered the experience I wanted.
That choice reflects a broader travel shift. A 2026 American Express global travel survey found that 79% of millennial and Gen Z travelers plan trips around local workshops and hands-on activities instead of familiar landmarks. The appeal is more than novelty: a less obvious stop can offer a more memorable experience.
After 16 years of traveling across 33 countries and working as a CEO, I see the same pattern in business. The founders I admire look for opportunities that haven’t drawn a crowd yet: an overlooked market, a mispriced opening or a strategy competitors haven’t examined. This is more significant than it looks. Being early only helps if you’ve done the work to understand what others have missed.
Choose the opening others overlook
Popular destinations tend to come with higher prices and more competition for attention. A traveler who chooses an olive oil tasting in Albania over Santorini may come home with a distinctive story and a smaller bill. Joe Coulombe applied a similar idea when he built Trader Joe’s: instead of taking on mainstream supermarkets over price or selection, he served well-educated, well-traveled customers the big chains weren’t pursuing.
I’ve made some of my better moves as a CEO by examining markets others had written off, much as a traveler might leave Lisbon for Portugal’s countryside. Before you follow a crowd into a familiar market, ask which market nobody has bothered to study. And keep your skepticism switched on: an easy-looking deal can be the business equivalent of a tourist trap.
Spend for lasting value
Travel budgets are holding up, but travelers are making more deliberate choices. Klook’s 2026 Travel Pulse survey found that 88% of millennials and Gen Zers plan to maintain or increase travel spending this year even as they cut shopping and other material purchases. They’re weighing exchange rates and off-season prices, and favoring trips that deliver value over trips chosen for appearances.
That same discipline belongs in a company’s budget. A trophy market, a flashy hire or a headline-grabbing acquisition may look impressive; that doesn’t make it a sound investment. The numbers often expose the difference within a year or two. Before approving a major expense, ask whether it creates something durable or mainly improves the next press release.
Learn from people who know the ground
A local Mayan guide in Guatemala can make a hike more useful, affordable and revealing than an international package tour. The business parallel is clear when you’re expanding into a new market or hiring for work outside your own expertise: someone who knows the terrain can see problems an imported playbook misses.
When I consider bringing in outside expertise, I want an adviser who has already faced the mistakes I’m likely to make. Generic frameworks don’t tell you where a trail washes out or where a market stalls. Experience can.
Keep checking what you think you know
Skyscanner’s 2026 Travel Trends report says 72% of Gen Z travelers feel confident using AI to plan and research trips in 2026. They also consult firsthand blogs and forums instead of relying on guidebooks that may be out of date. That combination points to a practical lesson for leaders: use new tools, but seek current, grounded information.
Before making a decision, I ask whether it stands up against the latest information or rests on an assumption that’s already a year or two old. The data doesn’t explain exactly how each traveler researches, but the habit of checking again is useful well beyond travel. If you keep testing your assumptions, you may catch a shift before it becomes an expensive surprise.
Famous destinations and familiar business moves will remain tempting. Yet an advantage may be waiting in the workshop few people know, the market competitors haven’t covered or the hire they haven’t considered. Before your next major decision, ask whether you’re following a familiar landmark or pursuing an opportunity others have yet to see.