The trends and trendsetters we’d like to see in global travel next year

With 2026 looming on the horizon, we have taken a look back at the year that’s drawing to a close and wanting in direction of what might come next.

For us who cowl the fields of travel, tourism, hospitality, and aviation, which means protecting an eye fixed out for each upcoming trends and people who’re certain to set the world on hearth with recent concepts that may shake up standard considering, ushering in higher methods of displaying travellers the world round them.

In this specific characteristic, we current three people with the potential to drive the business’s evolution, together with three trends we see taking centre stage in the year to come.

Three faces to watch in 2026

Beatrice Leong (proper) prepares to lead 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 not too long ago concluded BE @ Penang 2025 in Malaysia the place she made a robust case for accessibility in travel and tourism, notably the place MICE is anxious.

As an advocate for gender equality and accessibility for all, Leong famously stated: “Activist is just a fancy word for people who like 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 making travel and hospitality in Malaysia extra inclusive.

She has not been afraid to ask the tough questions and is kind of upfront with strategies on how areas will be made extra accessible for individuals who understand or expertise the world otherwise from others, not solely on a bodily stage, however on a neuro-psychological stage, as properly.

With regard to residing design, in specific, she requested of her viewers: “Accessibility is definitely about how usable is your house, how usable is your product, your service design. How sort are you in coping with individuals who have anxiousness, who’re in all probability dealing with despair, however nonetheless want to exit to purchase groceries? These issues 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 doable, 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 better understanding and persistence with travellers who see or expertise the world otherwise from everybody else.

Hers is a voice we glance ahead to 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 recent interview held in 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 instructed us in regards to the girl who approached him simply minutes after he acquired two Michelin Bib Gourmand nods for his eating places Palm Grill and Cabel.

As Cabel Moreno remembers: “She went and told me ‘I would actually prefer to receive your award than a Michelin Star.’ When I asked her why, she explained that it was an award given by the people rather than the critics.”

To say that Cabel Moreno’s meals is a love letter to the individuals who love to eat can be significantly underplaying the significance of his work to the folks of Southern Mindanao, a area that has been bypassed all too ceaselessly by Philippine tourism officers preferring to tout the colonial treasures of Luzon and the Visayas.

Indeed, 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 tell potential diners: ‘Look, Mindanao food is Filipino food. It’s pretty much as good as the same old Filipino aptitude that you simply take pleasure in; just give it a attempt.’ So, that has been a relentless wrestle. Despite our meager advertising and marketing efforts, presence, and all that, I’m grateful that we have been ready to keep. And the coming of the Michelin Guide validated all that hard work for us; it helped pave the way in which for my eating places. Speaking on my restaurant’s behalf, it opened so many doors for Filipinos to finally get to try it because an entity as huge as Michelin Guide validated and recognized us for what we do. Because of that, it opened folks’s eyes, and now they need to attempt 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 International Airport’s Terminal 3.

Likewise, his youngsters’s books Migoy: The Tausug Boy and The Tale 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 Book Fair.

Dr Bona Nahyun Lee (centre) listens as a information explains the historical past of Penang’s George Town district

South Korea: Dr Bona Nahyun Lee, best-selling creator and tech evangelist

The magnificence of latest know-how lies in the way in which it makes issues simpler for folks, no matter what business they might belong to.

Such is the case with the MICE sector, a discipline whose professionals too usually find yourself burnt out as they want to cope with the tedium of planning and coordination properly earlier than the precise occasion goes dwell.

But for BornTiger chief government and tech evangelist Dr Bona Nahyun Lee, modern applied sciences go a great distance in direction of making issues simpler and extra environment friendly for occasions professionals.

During her speak The AI-powered Future of Business Events, Lee identified the rising number of instruments out there for dealing with every little thing from planning to precise showrunning.

Artificial intelligence (AI), in specific, takes a lot of the stress out of the equation, seeing the way it permits professionals to create complete displays with just some key phrases, put together precise occasion sequences, and even simulate venues in use to give all stakeholders a complete preview of their endeavour, enabling them to make the mandatory changes properly beforehand.

At current, most of Lee’s books are in Korean, however we glance ahead to the day when her knowledge on innovation and automation makes it to a wider global viewers.

Three trends to control in 2026

Regenerative and rehabilitative tourism past Asia

One of the foremost talks throughout the 2025 PATA Destination Marketing Forum in Thailand was a presentation on Doi Tung, a sustainable vacation spot in the north of the nation which was, alas, a hotbed for felony exercise in the infamous heyday of the Golden Triangle.

Decades on, nonetheless, Doi Tung has greater than cleaned up its act, because it now serves as a cultural hub that gives a few of the finest 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 when it comes to reworking areas with a lower than fascinating popularity into locations that supply classes from their historical past together with specialities endemic to the area.

In doing so, governments can help communities via what is called regenerative tourism and primarily carry hope to areas with a darkish previous and provide a approach in direction of a brighter future.

We have seen such transformations in battle-torn areas like many components of Japan, in addition to the Philippine islands of Bataan and Corregidor; in any case, anybody who fails to hear the tales of the previous or heed their classes is certain to make the identical tragic errors.

Immersive studying experiences for the next technology of travel and tourism professionals

MICE is not only a approach by which industries can collect their finest and brightest underneath a single roof, however these occasions additionally function a studying expertise for the next technology of pros.

We noticed this first-hand at BE @ Penang and at PDMF2025 when complete contingents of scholars and their mentors made their approach over to pay attention to the business’s foremost minds to achieve better data.

Having been an instructional myself, I can not state sufficient on how publicity to precise business professionals and experiences helps spherical out a person’s schooling: they get to see life in the actual world, see the present execs at work, and achieve a better understanding of the careers they face when schooldays finish.

Also, I’ve come to the conclusion that the concepts provided by college students nonetheless shyly do have quite a lot of benefit: it takes somebody who has not but been jaded by the rigours and stresses of the career to provide you with recent concepts or new methods to method previous points, bringing these nearer to decision.

Time to rethink MICE

MICE has developed considerably all through this year, and the inclusion of devoted Experience Zones at occasions like ITB Asia have opened the eyes of many occasion organisers to varied potentialities.

With know-how altering at such a fast clip, notably interactive programming, MICE professionals want to sit down and contemplate the place they might finest intrgrate these improvements in their occasions.

Indeed, slightly than simply hopping from one sales space or pavilion to one other while urgent flesh or gathering brochures, interactive applied sciences assist contributors get a better understanding of the occasion or of current improvements, thus encouraging them to delve deeper and be taught extra.

Likewise, thanks to the introduction of hybrid occasions, nascent and present applied sciences make it doable for these abroad to get in on the motion without having to truly be on website.

While this will likely 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 take into consideration for the approaching year, however one factor is for certain: with travel and tourism evolving so quickly, the perfect factor we will do is sit again, loosen up, and simply be there for the journey into components unknown.