The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced that it will gather more than 200 executives and top leaders of international tourism at the 26th WTTC Global Summit, scheduled in Valletta (Malta) from October 7 to 9.
The event will bring together representatives from the main segments of the tourism value chain, such as hospitality, commercial aviation, cruises, technology applied to tourism, travel distribution, and investment in destinations.
The meeting will serve as a platform for business leaders, public authorities, and international organizations to examine in depth the challenges and opportunities currently facing the tourism industry.
Among the confirmed participants are Ángel Gallego, Executive Vice President of Industrial and Government Affairs of Amadeus IT Group; Christopher J. Nassetta, President and CEO of Hilton; Elie Maalouf, Global CEO of IHG Hotels & Resorts; Alejandro Reynal, President and CEO of Four Seasons; Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A; Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group; Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of the cruise division of MSC; and Neal Jones, President for EMEA of Marriott International.
The Spanish presence will include, among others, Gloria Fluxà, Vice President and Director of Sustainability of Iberostar; Simón Pedro Barceló, Executive President of Barceló Hotel Group; Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, President and CEO of Meliá Hotels International; Encarna Piñero, Global General Director of Piñero; Enrique Ybarra, President, Founder, and CEO of City Sightseeing Worldwide; Gabriele Burgio, President and CEO of Alpitour World; and Miguel Sanz, General Director of Turespaña.
Additionally, the attendance of executives from companies such as American Express Travel, Accor, Expedia Group, JPMorganChase/Chase Travel, JTB, Technogym, VFS Global, and Virtuoso is expected, along with heads of national tourism organizations from various countries.
The central theme of the 2026 Summit, which will take place under the slogan "Reconfiguring the Future: Shaping the Future of Travel and Tourism," will be the transformation of the sector driven by technology, artificial intelligence, the evolution of consumer expectations, and changes in the geopolitical context.
The program will pay special attention to cooperation between the public and private sectors, attracting investment, innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability, with the goal of fostering resilient growth in tourism and anticipating the changes that will define the future of tourism activity.
The 2026 Summit will take place after the last WTTC meeting in Rome in 2025, where public and private representatives gathered to study the main trends and opportunities in the travel and tourism ecosystem.
The president and CEO of the WTTC, Gloria Guevara, has emphasized that the gathering in Malta of more than 200 of the industry's top leaders reflects the global weight of the industry and will provide many of them with the opportunity to discover this Mediterranean destination for the first time.
For Malta, hosting the Summit represents a strategic opportunity to showcase its tourism proposal, its international connectivity, its infrastructure, and its investment potential before some of the main decision-makers in the global tourism industry.