WTTC expands global network ahead of Malta summit: ClubMed Lifestyle Group among new members
The World Travel & Tourism Council is further expanding its international network ahead of the 26th Global Summit, which will take place from 7 to 9 October 2026 in Valletta, Malta. The latest addition to its membership is ClubMed Lifestyle Group, which officially became a global member of WTTC on 28 August, joining an organisation that brings together leading companies and decision-makers from various segments of travel and tourism. According to WTTC data, Club Med currently operates 69 premium resorts, while its sales network spans six continents and more than 40 countries and regions. The group's membership comes just two days after the Malta Tourism Authority received Destination Partner status, further highlighting, immediately ahead of the summit, WTTC's goal of connecting the private sector with national and destination tourism institutions. At the beginning of October, Valletta will therefore become a meeting place for company leaders, ministers, investors, destination organisations and other stakeholders shaping the global tourism industry.
Club Med joins a network bringing together more than 200 companies
WTTC states that its membership currently includes more than 200 companies from hospitality, air transport, airports, cruises, tour operating, technology, car rental, railways and other related fields. The organisation positions itself as a global body representing the private travel and tourism sector and, through its membership, seeks to align business priorities with regulatory and public policies. According to the official membership page, companies represented in WTTC collectively generate turnover of approximately two-thirds of a trillion US dollars, which the organisation describes as around 30 percent of the entire sector. Within such a network, ClubMed Lifestyle Group gains direct access to discussions involving leading chief executives, company presidents and destination representatives. For WTTC, on the other hand, the entry of a well-known international resort operator is important because it further broadens the representation of the leisure and all-inclusive tourism segment.
Club Med was founded in 1950 and over the decades became one of the pioneers of the organised all-inclusive holiday concept. According to WTTC's announcement regarding the new membership, today's portfolio includes sunny and coastal destinations, mountain and ski resorts, as well as locations close to major urban centres. In the ski segment, the company operates in the European Alps, Japan's Hokkaido, North America and northeastern China. WTTC also emphasises that ClubMed Lifestyle Group is expanding its offering through a model with less reliance on direct real-estate ownership, including integrated resort destinations and cultural-tourism complexes. Such an approach reflects a broader trend in international hospitality and resort operations, in which major brands are increasingly basing their growth on management contracts, partnerships and licensing rather than exclusively on property ownership.
WTTC President and CEO Gloria Guevara said in the official announcement that Club Med has had a strong influence on the development of the global leisure segment for more than seven decades and that its combination of resort operations, new holiday concepts and lifestyle offerings corresponds with the direction in which the sector is developing. Xiaoliang Xu, CEO of Fosun International and Chairman of ClubMed Lifestyle Group, said that he sees membership as a platform for business discussions with tourism leaders and experts from around the world. According to him, the group wants to use WTTC to seek new opportunities for cooperation and participate in discussions about the future development of the industry. In practice, this means that membership is not intended merely as a reputational label, but as entry into a network in which investment, regulation, technology, workforce, sustainability and new models of tourism growth are discussed.
Malta Tourism Authority becomes a Destination Partner
The expansion of WTTC's network is not limited to private companies. On 26 August, the Malta Tourism Authority joined the organisation as a Destination Partner, just a few weeks before Malta hosts the Global Summit. WTTC stressed that MTA is the national body responsible for the promotion, regulation and development of tourism in the Maltese Islands and that it works with hotels, airlines, cruise companies, event organisers and other partners. Destination Partner status creates a more formal channel through which the experiences and needs of the destination can be connected more directly with major international tourism companies. For Malta, this is particularly important at a time of strong growth in visitor numbers, but also increasing pressure to ensure that tourism growth is sustainable in the long term for the local population, infrastructure and cultural heritage.
Maltese Tourism Minister Jo Etienne Abela said on the occasion of joining that the partnership with WTTC comes at an important moment for the country's tourism sector and preparations for the summit in Valletta. According to him, the aim is simultaneously to present Malta's experience, learn from international partners and seek new opportunities for sustainable growth. Malta Tourism Authority CEO Carlo Micallef stressed that Destination Partner status gives Malta a direct channel to leading decision-makers in the global tourism industry. WTTC, meanwhile, presented the partnership as an example of a model in which destination institutions and private companies work together on issues of competitiveness, investment, growth management and the quality of the tourism offering. This public-private component will be one of the central themes of the October gathering.
26th Global Summit takes place from 7 to 9 October in Valletta
According to official WTTC information, the 26th Global Summit will take place from 7 to 9 October 2026 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. The event is intended for leading representatives of the tourism economy and the public sector, and participation is by invitation and subject to organiser approval. WTTC is announcing a three-day programme of discussions and cooperation on the future of travel and tourism, with an emphasis on sustainable growth, investment, sector resilience and stronger connections between governments and private companies. When Malta was first announced as host, the organisation highlighted the themes of innovation, sustainability, long-term growth and resilience, while more recent strategic guidelines additionally indicate that digitalisation, artificial intelligence, destination management and workforce mobility will play an increasingly important role in discussions. For participants staying in the capital during the summit, an overview of accommodation in Valletta is available, and given the concentration of international delegations, increased demand during the dates of the event can reasonably be expected.
The choice of Valletta as host also carries symbolic significance. The city is one of the most recognisable historic centres in the Mediterranean, and WTTC presents it as a place where centuries-old cultural heritage meets a modern tourism economy. The summit is taking place at a time when destinations around the world are trying to find a balance between growth in international arrivals and issues such as overcrowding, housing, pressure on infrastructure, climate risks and relations with local communities. Because of its small area and high intensity of tourist traffic, Malta is a particularly interesting example of these challenges. Hosting the summit will therefore have broader significance than destination promotion: it gives Malta an opportunity to present its own results, but also to open a discussion before global leaders about how to manage growth in a spatially constrained island environment.
Malta records strong growth in tourist traffic
Official data from Malta's National Statistics Office show that in 2025 the country recorded more than four million inbound tourists, or 4,022,310 visitors, which was 12.9 percent more than a year earlier. The total number of tourist overnight stays reached 25.4 million, while estimated spending by international tourists exceeded 3.9 billion euros. Average spending per visitor amounted to 971 euros, compared with 924 euros in 2024. At the beginning of 2026, the Maltese government presented these results as a signal for a further transition towards higher-value, lower-impact tourism, with more investment in sustainability, digitalisation and visitor experiences. Data for the first half of 2026 show continued growth: from January to June, 2,131,825 inbound tourists were recorded, 18.1 percent more than in the same period of 2025, while tourist spending reached around 1.8 billion euros.
In its own Economic Impact Research, WTTC estimates that travel and tourism could contribute around 4.9 billion US dollars to the Maltese economy during 2026, equivalent to 16.9 percent of GDP, and support approximately 72,200 jobs. This is an estimate of the sector's broader economic impact, so it differs methodologically from the statistics on foreign visitor spending published by Malta's statistical office. WTTC also forecasts further growth over the next decade, with tourism potentially contributing around 6.5 billion dollars to the Maltese economy by 2036 and supporting more than 90,000 jobs. Such projections simultaneously demonstrate the economic strength of tourism and increase the importance of the question of how to protect residents' quality of life, space and the environment. That is precisely why Malta comes to the summit not only as a successful destination in terms of growth, but also as a laboratory for discussion about the limits and quality of that growth.
WTTC defined eight strategic priorities in 2026
The context of the summit is further shaped by the strategic priorities approved by WTTC's Executive Committee in June 2026, following several months of consultations and more than 200 discussions with chief executives and other leading industry figures. The organisation identified eight areas: safer and simpler travel through digital standards and biometrics; more responsible destination management and addressing excessive visitor concentration; climate and environmental sustainability; the application of artificial intelligence, robotics and other emerging technologies; crisis preparedness; strengthening global transport connectivity; workforce development and retention; and policies that facilitate investment and open new opportunities for growth. WTTC identifies fragmented travel experiences, complex visa processes, limited connectivity, geopolitical disruptions, the consequences of climate events, uneven digital transformation, labour shortages and growing tensions between visitors and local communities as key challenges.
This agenda shows why the simultaneous expansion of corporate membership and destination partnerships carries greater significance than merely increasing the number of members. Large tourism companies can invest quickly, expand capacity and introduce new technologies, but transport infrastructure, urban planning rules, visa regimes, environmental protection and destination management largely depend on public institutions. Destinations, on the other hand, need capital, distribution channels, market knowledge and the operational experience of the private sector. WTTC seeks to build its model precisely at this intersection, creating a forum in which economic interests and public policies can be considered together. The entry of ClubMed Lifestyle Group and the Malta Tourism Authority in the same week therefore clearly illustrates the direction in which the organisation wants to develop its network.
Valletta as a stage for the next phase of global tourism growth
Global tourism has entered a period in which discussion no longer focuses only on the return of demand after the major disruptions at the beginning of the decade, but on how to manage a new cycle of growth. For large companies, this means decisions on new investment, geographical expansion, technology and business models, while destinations simultaneously have to address issues of capacity, housing, workforce, transport, protection of space and the acceptance of tourism among residents. ClubMed Lifestyle Group, with its international resort portfolio, represents the private side of that equation, while the Malta Tourism Authority represents a destination institution that must align promotion, regulation, quality and long-term competitiveness. Their convergence through WTTC ahead of the summit is therefore an example of a broader change in global tourism, in which strategic decisions are increasingly made through partnerships between different sectors.
When delegates gather at the Mediterranean Conference Centre from 7 to 9 October, they will face questions that go beyond a single company or a single destination. Growth in international travel creates substantial opportunities for investment and employment, but at the same time increases pressure on natural resources, infrastructure and the communities receiving visitors. Through its latest memberships, WTTC seeks to demonstrate that it is looking for answers through a combination of business experience, data and direct participation by destination institutions. As host, Malta will have the opportunity to test this idea before a global audience, drawing on its own strong tourism growth while simultaneously facing the need to direct that growth towards higher quality and long-term sustainability. In that context, ClubMed Lifestyle Group's entry into WTTC will be one of the final moves in expanding the network before the discussion about the future of the sector moves to Valletta.
Sources:
- World Travel & Tourism Council – announcement of 28 August 2026 on ClubMed Lifestyle Group joining as a global member and data on the company's portfolio (link)
- World Travel & Tourism Council – announcement of 26 August 2026 on the Malta Tourism Authority joining as a Destination Partner (link)
- World Travel & Tourism Council – official page of the 26th Global Summit in Valletta with dates and venue details (link)
- World Travel & Tourism Council – membership data, more than 200 represented companies and the structure of the WTTC network (link)
- World Travel & Tourism Council – Economic Impact Research and overview of the expected contribution of tourism to the Maltese economy in 2026 (link)
- World Travel & Tourism Council – strategic priorities for 2026, including sustainability, technology, connectivity, workforce and investment (link)
- National Statistics Office Malta – official data on inbound tourism in 2025 and tourist spending (link)
- National Statistics Office Malta – latest available data on inbound tourism for the January-June 2026 period (link)
- Government of Malta – official statement on tourism results for 2025 and the shift towards a higher-value, lower-impact tourism model (link)