At Newport Beach, Gloria Guevara called on tourism leaders to make a shift: growth is no longer enough without responsible destination management
At the Destinations International 2026 CEO Summit, held from March 30 to April 1 in Newport Beach, California, one of the most striking messages came from the top of the World Travel & Tourism Council. Gloria Guevara, President and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, told leading figures from destination organizations that global tourism can no longer be viewed exclusively through the lens of growth in arrivals, overnight stays, and revenue, but rather through the ability of destinations to manage pressures, the long-term interests of the local community, and their own resilience. At a time when WTTC estimates that the global travel and tourism sector could reach a value of 16.5 trillion US dollars by 2035, the question is no longer only how much tourism can grow, but under what conditions that growth remains sustainable, socially acceptable, and politically viable.
The very framework of the gathering was no coincidence. Destinations International, the global association bringing together destination organizations and professionals in the field of destination management, presented this year’s CEO Summit under the theme of modern leadership. The program in Newport Beach focused on the complexity of governance at a time when tourism leaders are expected to be promoters of economic development, intermediaries with the local community, interpreters of public policy, and crisis managers. In that context, Gloria Guevara’s appearance carried additional weight because it came at a moment when international tourism, after years of disruption, is once again expanding strongly, while at the same time entering a more sensitive phase of public and political assessment of its effects.
Message to the industry: it is no longer enough just to bring in guests
According to the available information from the gathering, Guevara told destination leaders that the period in which success was measured almost exclusively by volume indicators is behind us. Such a shift does not mean that growth is no longer important, but that the management of that growth has become the key criterion of the credibility of tourism policy. In practice, this means that it is no longer enough to increase the number of visitors if local infrastructure is under excessive pressure, if the community does not feel the benefits of tourism, or if destination development turns into a series of short-term decisions without a clear long-term strategy.
This emphasis is particularly important for destination organizations that for years were primarily associated with marketing and promotion. Today, they are increasingly expected to play the role of stewards of space, partners to local authorities, and active participants in development planning. That is why a broader paradigm shift can be read in Guevara’s message: destination leadership is no longer only a matter of attracting demand, but of shaping the relationship between tourists, residents, the business sector, and public institutions. In other words, tourism is increasingly being treated less as an isolated industrial branch and more as a political, social, and spatial issue.
Why the figure of 16.5 trillion dollars is both an opportunity and a warning
WTTC had already published estimates according to which the global travel and tourism sector could generate 16.5 trillion dollars by 2035, or about 11.5 percent of global GDP. At first glance, such a projection confirms that tourism will remain one of the most important economic forces, especially for countries and regions that tie a significant share of their income, employment, and investment to international and domestic travel. But the same figure also raises the question of destinations’ capacity to absorb growth without worsening residents’ living conditions, without spatial erosion, and without the political resistance that is already emerging in parts of the world as a reaction to the pressures of mass tourism.
That is precisely why the message from Newport Beach was not triumphalist. Growth in itself does not guarantee stability. If tourism grows faster than public infrastructure, housing supply, utility systems, transport connectivity, and governance mechanisms, part of the benefits may turn into a source of tension. This particularly applies to destinations that are highly seasonal, spatially limited, or heavily reliant on a few dominant source markets. For them, the issue of tourism management is at the same time a question of resilience to external shocks, from geopolitical tensions and changes in consumer habits to climate risks and labour market disruptions.
Sustainability is no longer a side issue but a test of leadership seriousness
One of the strongest emphases concerned sustainability. In its more recent research, WTTC stated that the travel and tourism sector accounted for 6.5 percent of total global emissions in 2023, which is less than in 2019, when that share stood at 7.8 percent. For the industry, this is important data because it shows that reducing the relative climate footprint is not impossible even alongside economic growth. But for destination leaders, this is not an argument for complacency, but a reminder that sustainability can increasingly no longer be reduced to declarative plans, and increasingly must be expressed through measurable decisions on mobility, energy, spatial development, visitor management, and the relationship toward natural resources.
At the political level, this means that destinations that fail to align tourism development with environmental goals will have ever less room for manoeuvre. The public, investors, and regulators are increasingly sensitive to real impacts rather than promotional messages. In that sense, Guevara’s call for stewardship, that is, responsible destination management, can also be read as a call for the tourism sector to stop treating sustainability as an add-on to its marketing strategy. It is becoming a measure of management quality and a precondition for the political legitimacy of future growth.
Labour shortages as a structural problem, not a temporary slowdown
Alongside sustainability, an important part of the discussion concerned the people who carry the sector. In a report published in 2025, WTTC warned that by 2035 the travel and tourism sector could support 91 million new jobs, but also that, without timely planning, the global labour shortage could exceed 43 million people. This is not a narrow staffing issue, but one of the key structural problems of the industry. If destinations fail to attract, retain, and develop the workforce, growth in demand will not automatically mean better service, but may instead produce a decline in standards, greater pressure on existing employees, and additional problems in the operational functioning of the sector.
Such a challenge is especially sensitive for destinations that depend on seasonal work, international employee mobility, or jobs that are difficult to fill because of low wages, high housing costs, and pronounced labour intensity. In that context, Guevara’s message that purposeful and resilient leadership is needed takes on an entirely concrete dimension. Tourism policies can no longer be focused only on guests and investors, but also on workers, working conditions, education, housing, and professional development. Without that, part of the ambitious growth projections will collide with constraints on the ground.
Newport Beach as a symbol of the dual reality of tourism development
It is also not irrelevant that the gathering was held precisely in Newport Beach, a city and destination presented as a premium coastal destination, strongly tied to tourism, meetings, and events, but also to the quality of life of the local community. Official city and destination information shows that it is a developed tourism centre with a strong institutional framework and the Visit Newport Beach organization. Places like this illustrate well the fundamental dilemma of contemporary tourism: how to preserve economic benefit, international attractiveness, and investment momentum while at the same time not losing balance with local space, traffic, housing affordability, and the public interest.
That is why the message from the summit is relevant beyond the American context. Many European, Mediterranean, and urban destinations face the same questions, only on different scales. How many visitors are optimal, and not merely maximal? How should traffic and spending be distributed throughout the year? How can tourism be prevented from displacing residents’ everyday life? And how should a development narrative be shaped that will not rest only on the constant increase of figures, but on the quality of the experience and long-term social acceptability?
What this shift means for destination organizations
If the essence of the message delivered in Newport Beach is summarized, then it is that destination organizations are entering a period of redefining their own role. They are no longer merely promotional platforms that sell the image of a place, but institutions expected to participate in planning, interpreting data, coordinating with the public sector, and mitigating conflicts between economic interests and quality of life. Such a change requires different competencies, a different political position, and a higher level of responsibility.
In practice, this means more work with data on destination pressure, stronger partnership with cities and regions, greater sensitivity to the mood of the local community, and the willingness to sometimes reject even a short-term popular decision if it harms the destination in the long term. It also means that successful organizations will be those that can clearly explain why tourism exists, whom it benefits, and how those benefits are distributed. Without that, they will find it increasingly difficult to defend development projects before citizens, local politics, and regulators.
The industry is seeking a new type of leader
The summit theme, devoted to the mindset of modern leadership, shows that the tourism sector is increasingly openly acknowledging that the conditions of governance have changed. A destination leader today must understand business indicators, but also climate goals, the labour market, reputational risks, political dynamics, and crisis communication. They must be able to negotiate with the private sector, while at the same time listening to the local community. They must know how to advocate for growth, but also explain where its limits lie. That is precisely why Guevara’s appearance resonated beyond the event itself: her message was not limited to one gathering or one growth cycle, but to the question of what type of leadership tourism needs in the decade ahead.
For countries and destinations that are heavily reliant on travel and tourism revenue, this is a message that is not easy to ignore. Growth projections remain impressive, but they no longer seem like an automatic guarantee of success. Above all, they are a test of the ability to turn growth into balanced development, a more resilient sector, and a clearer social contract between tourism and the places that live from it. In that sense, the summit in Newport Beach did not offer only an optimistic picture of the industry’s future, but also a warning that in the next phase, the winning destinations will be those that learn to manage their own attractiveness, and not merely increase its reach.
Sources:- Destinations International – official announcement and description of the 2026 CEO Summit in Newport Beach, with the dates and the theme of the gathering (link)- Destinations International – overview of the organization’s upcoming events, including the CEO Summit from March 30 to April 1, 2026 (link)- World Travel & Tourism Council – announcement of Gloria Guevara’s appointment to the position of WTTC President and CEO on January 19, 2026 (link)- World Travel & Tourism Council – announcement on the strong growth of global tourism and the projection that the sector could reach 16.5 trillion dollars by 2035, or 11.5 percent of global GDP (link)- World Travel & Tourism Council – Environmental & Social Research with the data that the sector accounted for 6.5 percent of global emissions in 2023, less than in 2019 (link)- World Travel & Tourism Council – report on the tourism labour market with an estimate of 91 million new jobs by 2035 and a possible shortage of more than 43 million workers (link)- Visit Newport Beach – official information on the role of Visit Newport Beach as the city’s official destination marketing organization (link)- City of Newport Beach – official city information and events calendar, as context for the location where the summit was held (link)
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