Leading figures in world tourism in California discussed a new leadership model: destinations can no longer live on promotion alone
At a time when global tourism is expanding again, but at the same time facing pressure from local communities, higher public expectations, and rapid technological changes, one of the more important gatherings for leaders in the destination management sector was held in Newport Beach, California. Destinations International, the world’s largest association of destination organizations, announced that its 2026 CEO Summit brought together nearly 300 chief executive officers, presidents, senior executives, and partner representatives from the tourism sector. The gathering was held from March 30 to April 1, 2026, and the central theme was “The Mindset of Modern Leadership”, that is, the question of what kind of leadership is required today by a tourism industry that is no longer accountable only to the market, but also to residents, local politics, investors, the workforce, and increasingly vocal demands for sustainability and real social benefit. The organizers say that destination organizations are no longer observers of processes, but active managers of change, and that is precisely the framework within which the summit was set.
The importance of this gathering goes beyond usual conference discussions. Today, Destinations International brings together more than 700 member organizations and more than 7,500 professionals from 26 countries and territories, which gives the association the weight of one of the key global platforms for exchanging practices among convention bureaus, tourist boards, destination management organizations, and related institutions. When such an organization gathers sector leaders at a time when tourism flows are accelerating and pressure on residents’ quality of life is growing, the messages coming from the gathering have a broader significance than the event itself. They show how the view of tourism is changing: from a model in which the most important thing is to bring in as many guests as possible, toward a model in which success is increasingly measured by the relationship with the community, public trust, the ability to manage crises, and the long-term resilience of the destination.
Tourism growth is no longer a sufficient answer in itself
The discussions in Newport Beach were held at a time when global indicators are once again confirming the economic strength of travel and tourism. According to data from the World Travel & Tourism Council, WTTC, the sector should reach a record 11.7 trillion U.S. dollars in contribution to the global economy in 2025, with expected international spending of 2.1 trillion dollars and a total of 371 million jobs linked to tourism. The same organization estimates that by 2035 the sector’s total contribution could grow to 16.5 trillion dollars, which explains why tourism is still viewed as an important engine of development. But it was precisely that figure, however optimistic it may sound, that in Newport Beach also opened a more uncomfortable question: how to manage growth without undermining life in the destinations that carry that growth.
That is exactly why this year’s summit was not conceived as a stage for industry self-congratulation, but as a space for re-examination. In the official release after the gathering, Destinations International president and chief executive officer Don Welsh emphasized that destination organizations today are being asked for a new kind of leadership, one that must balance economic opportunity with impact on the community, and strategy with authenticity. That wording may sound general, but it sums up a fundamental shift in the sector: destinations can no longer be presented only through campaigns, slogans, and arrival figures, but are expected to show who benefits from tourism, who gains real value from it, and how they deal with the consequences of growth.
Newport Beach as a symbol of the “less self-promotion, more management” model
It is not without significance that the gathering was held precisely in Newport Beach. The event was hosted by Visit Newport Beach, and the local organization and city partners presented the destination not only as an attractive coastal location, but also as an example of linking destination development, the hotel sector, meetings sales, and the local visitor experience. The summit’s official program also specifically highlighted the so-called immersive offsite experience, conceived as a field insight into Newport Beach’s best practices in destination development, community engagement, and workforce-related innovation. In this way, the venue itself fit into the gathering’s main message: the tourism sector is increasingly less interested in the mere presentation of postcards, and increasingly more interested in management models that can deliver concrete results.
One of the topics that attracted special attention was also the alignment of destination organization funding with the interests of hotel owners. The program cited as an example the model developed by Visit Newport Beach, which the organizer describes as a private Meetings Assessment Partnership. It is an approach intended to secure additional sources for the sale of group events and to connect hotel owners more strongly with the goals of the destination as a whole. Such discussions are important because they reveal the real terrain on which modern tourism organizations operate: their job is no longer only marketing, but also negotiating between the public interest, private capital, local politics, and community expectations.
Artificial intelligence, trust, and the workforce crisis among the key topics
The program of the gathering shows how much the range of responsibilities of leading people in tourism has expanded. At the summit, discussions covered relationships and trust in leadership, the ever-stronger influence of sports on destination economies and community identities, the structure of executive leadership, compensation and salaries in a competitive environment for attracting talent, leading organizations in a period of disruption and uncertainty, but also artificial intelligence as an increasingly important tool that is changing the way destination organizations work. In the official program, sessions dedicated to AI stood out in particular, with the emphasis not only on technology, but on changing organizational culture, internal adoption of new tools, risk management, and the question of where artificial intelligence brings a real strategic advantage and where human leadership remains irreplaceable.
Such a focus is not accidental. In recent years, the tourism sector has entered a period in which the way travelers seek information, compare destinations, and make decisions has changed. Destination organizations therefore no longer pay attention only to their own websites, media relations, and classic campaigns, but also to how they are shaped by artificial intelligence tools, synthesized answers, algorithmic recommendations, and new models of digital visibility. The discussions in Newport Beach showed that this is no longer considered a marginal technological topic, but a matter of management strategy. In other words, destination leaders are no longer debating whether artificial intelligence should be used, but how to include it without the organization losing credibility, internal cohesion, and clear accountability to the public.
Alongside technology, the topic of the workforce was also strongly present. In the summit description, the organizer states that among the key issues are labor market dynamics, personal well-being of leaders, and organizational culture. This points to a problem that the tourism sector has not resolved even after demand recovery: growth in the number of trips does not automatically mean a stable workforce, and leading positions today require a much broader profile of competencies than just a few years ago. Leaders of destination organizations are expected to understand economic development, public policy, community issues, crisis communication, talent management, and technological transformation. Such an expansion of responsibility also explains why the summit was so focused on the very concept of modern leadership, and less on classic promotional tactics.
From counting arrivals to measuring impact on the community
One of the most interesting shifts visible in the messages from the summit is the increasingly pronounced insistence that the success of tourism is not measured only by traffic and spending. In the closing release, the organizer states that a common message ran through the entire gathering that the future success of destinations will not depend only on marketing effectiveness, but also on leadership that prioritizes value for the community, trust, and adaptability. Such wording also fits into the broader trend that Destinations International is trying to institutionalize through its own research and tools.
During the summit, the annual reports for 2025 were also presented, as well as a new edition of the Resident Sentiment Study for the United States and Canada, produced in partnership with Longwoods International. According to the organizer’s description, that study has been conducted annually since 2018 and tracks how residents perceive tourism, how they assess its impact on their own communities, how they view tourism-related employment, and how they evaluate the efforts of destinations in managing development. The very fact that such research is presented at a gathering of chief executives shows how much the industry’s focus has changed. Whereas earlier the key question was how to increase guest interest, today it is becoming equally important to understand residents’ sentiment and the social license for further development.
This is especially important for cities and regions that simultaneously want economic benefit from visitors and the preservation of quality of life. If residents feel that tourism raises prices, burdens infrastructure, or does not bring proportional benefit to the local community, the legitimacy of tourism policies weakens. In such a context, destination organizations can no longer remain only a promotional service. They are turning into intermediaries between the public, the economy, and politics, and that requires a new kind of credibility. That is precisely why the summit in Newport Beach emphasized trust, community, and authenticity so strongly as integral elements of the future leadership model.
Global perspective: from American strategy to European and Canadian experiences
Although the summit was held in California, the organizers built the program so that the discussion would not remain confined to the American context. Among the participants in the panel on global issues affecting the visitor economy were leaders of the World Travel & Tourism Council, the U.S. Travel Association, Canada’s Banff and Lake Louise Tourism, and Vienna’s Vienna Tourist Board. This opened space for comparing the experiences of destinations operating in different political, social, and market conditions, but increasingly facing similar dilemmas: how to remain competitive without losing control over development; how to deal with global uncertainties; how to preserve residents’ support; and how to integrate tourism into broader development strategies.
Particularly important was the conversation with Robert O’Leary, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism of the United States and director of the National Travel and Tourism Office. According to the organizers, participants in that format had the opportunity to discuss the inclusion of destinations in the national travel and tourism strategy. This is an important message because it shows that destination organizations no longer operate only locally, but are becoming interlocutors in shaping broader policies as well. For a sector that long functioned predominantly as promotional infrastructure, this is a major institutional shift.
The conference as a mirror of an industry seeking a new identity
The summit’s official description does not hide that this is a time that many participants described as an era of “constant chaos”. The expression is strong, but it captures the mood of the sector well: uncertainty is no longer perceived as a temporary disturbance, but as a new normal condition. Geopolitical tensions, changing economic circumstances, the slowing recovery of some major markets, changes in traveler behavior, technological transformation, and growing public sensitivity to the effects of tourism are creating an environment in which standard leadership patterns function ever more weakly. That is precisely why the opening of the summit was entrusted to Deepak Malhotra of Harvard Business School, who, according to the organizers’ release, spoke about decision-making under pressure and negotiating through complexity. It is a symptomatic choice: today the tourism sector asks its leaders not only for creativity and communication, but also for cool-headedness in decision-making when circumstances are unclear and when multiple interests enter into open conflict.
In that sense, the summit can be read as a mirror of a broader change in the identity of tourism organizations. They are no longer only brand managers of places, but institutions that must prove legitimacy, build relationships of trust, explain their own purpose, and show that they understand the limits of growth. This does not mean that marketing has lost its importance, but that it has ceased to be sufficient. If the earlier ideal was to attract as much interest as possible in a destination, today’s ideal is increasingly the creation of a sustainable, politically sustainable, and socially acceptable model of development. Newport Beach was therefore more than a conference location: it became a stage for discussion about whether tourism can remain a strong economic sector while at the same time being more responsible both to the space and to the people who live in that space.
What comes after Newport Beach
Destinations International has already announced that the next CEO Summit will be held in Tucson, Arizona, from March 22 to 24, 2027, which shows that the organization still sees this format as one of the central places for shaping the industry agenda. But more important than the announcement of the next meeting itself is what is already visible from Newport Beach: the tourism industry is entering a phase in which leaders will be evaluated not only by how effective they are in promotion, but also by how convincing they are in managing complex relationships between economic interest and the public good. In a world in which tourism is simultaneously seen as a driver of growth and a source of tension, the ability for such balancing will probably become the most important skill of destination leadership.
If the messages from the summit are translated into practice, the future of tourism organizations could look different than in the past decade. Instead of being measured almost exclusively by marketing reach, they will increasingly be judged by their ability to create value for the community, contain reputational risks, use artificial intelligence wisely, build trust with residents, and withstand political and market turbulence. This is an ambitious framework, but it is also a realistic answer to a time in which tourism can no longer be managed only as an industry of attracting guests. Newport Beach therefore served as a reminder that the question of the future of tourism is no longer only where people want to travel, but also who will manage that development, how, and in whose interest.
Sources:- Destinations International – official release on the held 2026 CEO Summit in Newport Beach, the number of participants, discussion topics, published research, and the date of the next summit (link)
- Destinations International – official event page with the dates, a description of the theme “The Mindset of Modern Leadership”, and an emphasis on resilience, organizational culture, the workforce, and exchange among leaders (link)
- Destinations International – official membership data of the association, including the number of member organizations, professionals, and the geographic reach of the network (link)
- Destinations International – “About” page with a description of the association’s role and its focus on community, tools for destinations, and professional development (link)
- Visit Newport Beach – official host page confirming that Visit Newport Beach and VEA Newport Beach hosted the summit from March 30 to April 1, 2026 (link)
- WTTC – official data on global economic projections for travel and tourism for 2025 and the projection to 2035, including the contribution to global GDP, international spending, and employment (link)
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