The Travel and Tourism Industry Takes Flight in 2026

Global tourism is recovering, according to SIS International, reaching $11.7 trillion in 2025 and projected to climb 3.55% to $16.5 trillion by 2035.  International visitor spending surpassed pre-pandemic levels by hitting an unprecedented $2.1 trillion globally while cultural tourism is predicted to grow from $1.2 trillion this year to $2.6 trillion by 2035.  The sector makes up 10.3% of the global GDP in 2025 and provides 371 million jobs worldwide- a 14M increase from 2024.  

However, the US market is behind pre-pandemic records for international arrivals.  For travel and tourism companies looking to thrive and take advantage of all that projected growth, SIS lists five critical insights to consider in their strategies:  

1. Consumers Pay Premium for Personalization – 61% of consumers are willing to spend more with companies offering options to customize and enhance their travel experiences, with top choices like breakfast, room size, and views.  
2. Consumers are Seeking Wellness Tourism – 44% of high-income travelers helped drive the global growth of wellness tourism to $1 trillion in 2025 while younger customers are quickly adopting wellness trips.  
3. Meeting Sustainability Expectations – Travelers are now skipping properties that don’t reflect adherence to sustainability standards.  
4. Managing AI Implementation – From hyper-personalized itineraries to predictive pricing, AI in tourism is booming with 28.7% annual growth projected to be over $5 billion by 2034.  
5. Addressing Overtourism Anxiety – High tourist volumes at 14 points year-over-year and worries over insufficient amenities rising by 12 points represent growing concerns with overtourism.  Formulating dynamic pricing programs, learning about traveler tolerance levels towards crowding, and identifying potential or alternative destination choices to help manage demand are just some of the approaches companies can take to potentially reduce these anxieties.  

The next ten years is an exciting time of growth and innovation for the travel and tourism industry.  While all that growth is not without its challenges, reaching success is best navigated not by intuition but by a roadmap drawn by actionable and data-backed insights gained from high level market research.  

Recognizing psychographics and behavioral patterns to predict booking behavior, mapping and understanding the entire customer journey, creating clear and measurable connections between program initiatives and revenue outcomes: these are just some of the things forward-looking companies can do to prosper In the travel and tourism industry in 2026.  

Image: Valentin Ivantsov

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