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What is booming and what is not? It is a tricky business, especially in an era where pandemics are back and reminiscent of the Spanish Flu outbreak, and when Russia is going back to conquering Europe. It is tricky to figure out which are booming because they are healthy and which are booming because of circumstance. Either way, here are a few industries to watch.

The Digital Signage Industry

Yes, digital signs are becoming more and more popular, especially when you consider how innovative they are become. Companies and advertisers are using them for just about everything. Even digital signage healthcare is getting in on the action with digital signs doing everything from dictating waiting room orders to telling people where each department is located. The popularity of digital signs may have something to do with the fact they are a very contactless device, and companies are very eager to make as many things as possible contactless to help cater to people who are still germophobes, and to help their company become future proof if another pandemic rears up and causes more problems. On the other hand, digital signs and their associated companies have been growing steadily for years now, so the modern popularity of digital signs may have been inevitable.

Local Vacation Industry

The problem with this industry is that you can never truly know if surges in interest are fully situational, or if the shift towards vacationing in the same country are genuine. For example, when discount flights became popular, the tourist trade was booming, but people were traveling to all sorts of exotic places and local vacation spots were going dry. Then came the 9/11 attacks and suddenly people are afraid to fly and local vacation industries boom again. As time goes one, the trend starts to move away from local vacations, then along comes a pandemic where people are not allowed to fly, and local vacations are popular again. It may be that situations will always arise that make staying in your own country for a vacation a good idea. But, there is no way of knowing for sure if local tourist industries will last the long haul. Nevertheless, these days, the local tourist trade (for own country vacations) is booming.

The Green Energy Industry

It turns out that solar and wind power are just not up to the job. Hydroelectric dams are pretty good, but most places don't have the natural resources to build one. Yet, the green energy industry is booming because of more efficient machines. Green energy generation may be dying a slow death, but efficient cars, trucks, buses and planes are becoming hot topics. Companies that are innovating in green technology are really seeing the money roll in. The only problem is that it is tough to know what will succeed and what will not. For example, prior to Tesla cars, people were sure that electric cars were unfeasible. Yet these days we are seeing more and more electric car charging stations than ever before.

The Gaming Industry

Game developers were making millions upon millions on loot boxes, but since those have fallen out of favor, it is back to making games and live service garbage. Yet, the companies that do it right, the companies that actually make good games are making a lot of money. Elden Ring sold 12 million copies in the first three weeks, and the games industry as a whole is now more than three times bigger than the movie industry. One of the great things about game development is the low barrier to entry. As a starter, a company can make indie games for Steam or for mobile devices, and bigger companies can make massively profitable games for consoles.

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