The submit Forecast 2026: The developments and trendsetters we’d wish to see in international journey subsequent yr appeared first on TD (Journey Every day Media) Journey Every day Media.
With 2026 looming on the horizon, we’ve taken a glance again on the yr that’s drawing to an in depth and searching in the direction of what could come subsequent.
For us who cowl the fields of journey, tourism, hospitality, and aviation, meaning retaining a watch out for each upcoming developments and people who’re certain to set the world on fireplace with recent concepts that may shake up standard pondering, ushering in higher methods of displaying travellers the world round them.
On this explicit characteristic, we current three people with the potential to drive the trade’s evolution, together with three developments we see taking centre stage within the yr to return.
Three faces to observe in 2026
Beatrice Leong (proper) prepares to steer her masterclass on inclusive occasions at BE @ Penang 2025
Malaysia: Beatrice Leong, gender and accessibility advocate
We had each the honour and the privilege of assembly Beatrice Leong on the lately concluded BE @ Penang 2025 in Malaysia the place she made a powerful case for accessibility in journey and tourism, significantly the place MICE is worried.
As an advocate for gender equality and accessibility for all, Leong famously stated: “Activist is only a fancy phrase for individuals who wish to scold governments.”
In her case, although, scolding governments has yielded nice outcomes: Leong’s intrepid drive and that of different accessibility advocates has gone a great distance with regard to creating journey and hospitality in Malaysia extra inclusive.
She has not been afraid to ask the troublesome questions and is sort of upfront with recommendations on how areas could be made extra accessible for individuals who understand or expertise the world otherwise from others, not solely on a bodily degree, however on a neuro-psychological degree, as effectively.
With regard to residing design, specifically, she requested of her viewers: “Accessibility is definitely about how usable is your area, how usable is your product, your service design. How sort are you in coping with individuals who have nervousness, who’re in all probability going through despair, however nonetheless have to exit to purchase groceries? This stuff require readability of knowledge. How are you conveying the structure of knowledge?”
Leong believes that, whereas full accessibility for all would possibly probably not be potential, people want accessibility on a regular basis; that, in flip wants adjustment on the a part of hospitality suppliers, airways, and facility managers, together with a larger understanding and persistence with travellers who see or expertise the world otherwise from everybody else.
Hers is a voice we sit up for listening to, particularly given the rising emphasis on accessibility the world over.
Miguel Cabel Moreno dishes up helpings of his Amor del Mar seafood speciality at a four-hands dinner at Crimson Boracay
Philippines: Miguel Cabel Moreno, Michelin-lauded chef and culinary heritage advocate
In a current interview held within the wake of From Shore to South, a four-hands dinner collaboration at Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay, Filipino chef and culinary advocate Miguel Cabel Moreno informed us in regards to the lady who approached him simply minutes after he obtained two Michelin Bib Gourmand nods for his eating places Palm Grill and Cabel.
As Cabel Moreno remembers: “She went and informed me ‘I might really favor to obtain your award than a Michelin Star.’ After I requested her why, she defined that it was an award given by the folks moderately than the critics.”
To say that Cabel Moreno’s meals is a love letter to the individuals who like to eat could be critically underplaying the significance of his work to the folks of Southern Mindanao, a area that has been bypassed all too steadily by Philippine tourism officers preferring to tout the colonial treasures of Luzon and the Visayas.
Certainly, selling the delicacies and heritage of such a far-flung and criminally underrated (and, certainly, oft maligned) vacation spot has been an uphill climb for the chef.
As he put it: “I used to inform potential diners: ‘Look, Mindanao meals is Filipino meals. It’s pretty much as good as the same old Filipino aptitude that you just get pleasure from; just give it a strive.’ So, that has been a relentless wrestle. Regardless of our meager advertising and marketing efforts, presence, and all that, I’m grateful that we have been capable of keep. And the approaching of the Michelin Information validated all that tough work for us; it helped pave the way in which for my eating places. Talking on my restaurant’s behalf, it opened so many doorways for Filipinos to lastly get to strive it because an entity as big as Michelin Information validated and acknowledged us for what we do. Because of that, it opened folks’s eyes, and now they wish to strive it.”
As of press time, Cabel Moreno is poised to open a brand new department for Palm Grill at Tambayan, the brand new meals corridor at Ninoy Aquino Worldwide Airport’s Terminal 3.
Likewise, his youngsters’s books Migoy: The Tausug Boy and The Story of Putli Mandi, written in English, Filipino, and the chef’s native dialect Bahasa Sug, have gone a great distance in presenting the tradition of Southern Mindanao to kids of the northern and central components of the nation, in addition to the remainder of the world as these have been featured on the 2025 Frankfurt Guide Honest.
Dr Bona Nahyun Lee (centre) listens as a information explains the historical past of Penang’s George City district
South Korea: Dr Bona Nahyun Lee, best-selling writer and tech evangelist
The great thing about up to date know-how lies in the way in which it makes issues simpler for folks, no matter what trade they might belong to.
Such is the case with the MICE sector, a area whose professionals too typically find yourself burnt out as they should cope with the tedium of planning and coordination effectively earlier than the precise occasion goes dwell.
However for BornTiger chief government and tech evangelist Dr Bona Nahyun Lee, up to date applied sciences go a great distance in the direction of making issues simpler and extra environment friendly for occasions professionals.
Throughout her discuss The AI-powered Way forward for Enterprise Occasions, Lee identified the rising number of instruments accessible for dealing with all the pieces from planning to precise showrunning.
Synthetic intelligence (AI), specifically, takes a lot of the stress out of the equation, seeing the way it permits professionals to create entire shows with just some key phrases, put together precise occasion sequences, and even simulate venues in use to provide all stakeholders a complete preview of their endeavour, enabling them to make the required changes effectively beforehand.
At current, most of Lee’s books are in Korean, however we sit up for the day when her knowledge on innovation and automation makes it to a wider international viewers.
Three developments to regulate in 2026
Regenerative and rehabilitative tourism past Asia
One of many main talks throughout the 2025 PATA Vacation spot Advertising and marketing Discussion board in Thailand was a presentation on Doi Tung, a sustainable vacation spot within the north of the nation which was, alas, a hotbed for legal exercise within the infamous heyday of the Golden Triangle.
Many years on, nevertheless, Doi Tung has greater than cleaned up its act, because it now serves as a cultural hub that provides a few of the greatest espresso, tea, and even macadamia nuts on the continent.
That being stated, Doi Tung’s story ought to serve for example and inspiration to different nations in relation to remodeling areas with a lower than fascinating status into locations that provide classes from their historical past together with specialities endemic to the area.
In doing so, governments can assist communities via what is called regenerative tourism and primarily convey hope to areas with a darkish previous and supply a means in the direction of a brighter future.
We have now seen such transformations in battle-torn areas like many components of Japan, in addition to the Philippine islands of Bataan and Corregidor; in spite of everything, anybody who fails to listen to the tales of the previous or heed their classes is certain to make the identical tragic errors.
Immersive studying experiences for the subsequent era of journey and tourism professionals
MICE isn’t only a means by which industries can collect their greatest and brightest beneath a single roof, however these occasions additionally function a studying expertise for the subsequent era of execs.
We noticed this first-hand at BE @ Penang and at PDMF2025 when entire contingents of scholars and their mentors made their means over to take heed to the trade’s foremost minds to achieve larger data.
Having been a tutorial myself, I can’t state sufficient on how publicity to precise trade professionals and experiences helps spherical out a person’s schooling: they get to see life in the actual world, see the present professionals at work, and acquire a larger understanding of the careers they face when schooldays finish.
Additionally, I’ve come to the conclusion that the concepts supplied by college students nevertheless shyly do have quite a lot of advantage: it takes somebody who has not but been jaded by the rigours and stresses of the occupation to provide you with recent concepts or new methods to method previous points, bringing these nearer to decision.
Time to rethink MICE
MICE has advanced considerably all through this yr, and the inclusion of devoted Expertise Zones at occasions like ITB Asia have opened the eyes of many occasion organisers to numerous potentialities.
With know-how altering at such a speedy clip, significantly interactive programming, MICE professionals want to sit down down and take into account the place they might greatest intrgrate these improvements of their occasions.
Certainly, moderately than simply hopping from one sales space or pavilion to a different while urgent flesh or gathering brochures, interactive applied sciences assist individuals get a larger understanding of the occasion or of current improvements, thus encouraging them to delve deeper and study extra.
Likewise, because of the introduction of hybrid occasions, nascent and present applied sciences make it potential for these abroad to get in on the motion while not having to truly be on web site.
Whereas this may increasingly appear awkward, it does give the phantasm of really being there with out constructing an environmentally unsound carbon footprint, thus additionally incomes factors for sustainability.
We’ve a lot to consider for the approaching yr, however one factor is for certain: with journey and tourism evolving so quickly, the very best factor we are able to do is sit again, loosen up, and simply be there for the trip into components unknown.
The submit Forecast 2026: The developments and trendsetters we’d wish to see in international journey subsequent yr appeared first on Journey Every day Media.
