The WTM Global Travel Report 2026, prepared with Tourism Economics and launched at the opening of WTM London in the first week of November 2026, puts international overnight arrivals at a record 1.57 billion this year, up 2% after 6% growth in 2025. North America is forecast to end 2026 only 2% up and still 6% below 2019. Travellers are moving towards short-haul trips and value for money, and 36% say they would now trust AI to complete a travel booking. For a hotel, inn or tour operator in Canada this sets three tasks for the 2027 season: package for value, market to nearby travellers, and make every offer readable by AI assistants.
What the WTM Global Travel Report 2026 found
WTM London's organiser said the 2026 show opened "led by the launch of WTM's Global Travel Report, in association with Tourism Economics" (WTM press release, 4 November 2026). Dave Goodger, managing director for Tourism Economics, summed up the year: "travellers are reallocating resources and looking to save where they can." The figures below come from the report's launch release as republished by the trade paper Journal des Palaces on 5 November 2026.
| Indicator | Report figure | What it means for marketing |
|---|---|---|
| International overnight arrivals, 2026 | 1.57 billion, +2% on 2025 (6% growth in 2025) | Demand is at a record, competition for each booking is tighter |
| Trip distance | Inter-regional trips −3%, short-haul +3% | Nearby markets respond first; for Ontario and Quebec that means domestic and cross-border drive traffic |
| North America | +2% in 2026, 6% below 2019; forecast +4% in 2027 | Plan budgets for slow growth, measure cost per booking closely |
| Value seeking | 1 in 6 chose their last destination for value for money (about 1 in 11 in 2025); 56% want to mix saving and splurging | Show a clear entry price with paid upgrades |
| AI in planning | 58% would use AI to search and compare prices, 53% would consider it for recommendations, 36% would trust it to complete a booking | Rates, rooms and policies must be machine-readable |
| Motivation and timing | 37% travel mainly to disconnect and relax (31% in 2025); 22% plan to travel at different times of year | Promote quiet-season stays with their own offers |
| Outlook | Global arrivals +8% in 2027, long-haul +11%, if disruption eases | Keep long-haul campaigns ready to switch on |
Being discoverable by AI assistants is now the first task
Tourism Economics concludes that "being discoverable by AI assistants is an immediate priority" for destinations and suppliers. Speakers on the opening day said the same in practical terms. Garry Wilson, CEO of easyJet Holidays, said: "The meaningful thing for us is to think about how we can display the content in a way that is attributed back to easyJet holidays." On the Future Stage, Ani Attamian stressed "correct, connected and clear data" for any company using AI with customers.
For an independent hotel or a tour operator, attribution comes from the facts an assistant can read and check: room types, rates and what they include, cancellation terms, location, accessibility, tour duration and departure points. When these facts sit only inside a booking widget or a PDF, an assistant has to rely on other sites that publish them, often online travel agencies. Plain text on your own site, matched by your Google listing and schema markup, gives the assistant a source it can name and link to.
A 2027 marketing checklist for hotels and tour operators
- Publish a value tier. One clearly priced entry package and two or three paid upgrades (breakfast, late checkout, guided extension) match the 56% who want to save on some parts of a trip and splurge on others.
- Target the short-haul radius. Shift part of the 2027 budget to travellers within a day's drive: Google Ads by location, Meta ads to nearby cities, landing pages written for weekend trips.
- Put every bookable fact on your own pages. Rooms, rates, inclusions and policies in HTML text, mirrored in your Google Business Profile and hotel feed. This is the core of our hotel marketing agency work for direct bookings.
- Write tour pages that answer questions. Duration, group size, meeting point, what is included and who the tour suits: the content an AI assistant compares. See our playbook on SEO for tour operators.
- Sell the quiet season. 22% plan to travel at different times of year; give off-peak dates their own page, offer and campaign.
- Package events and adventure. 58% of international travellers took a trip abroad for an event in the past two years, and 64% are interested in adventure trips while 19% usually take one. Tourism Economics suggests better packaging and more family-friendly products to help close that gap.
- Check that AI crawlers can reach you. Review robots.txt and Search Console settings so the pages above stay open to assistants and AI answers in Search.
Most of these changes fit into a winter quarter: a value tier and quiet-season pages take a few weeks to build, while search results usually need one to three months to reflect new pages, depending on how often Google crawls the site. Marketing MIX, working since 2012 and based at 208 Booth Street in Ottawa, runs this work as a travel marketing agency for tour operators and as hotel marketing for independent properties in Canada.
FAQ
What is the WTM Global Travel Report 2026?
An annual report by WTM London with Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, covering more than 185 countries. The 2026 edition was launched at WTM London in early November 2026.
How many international arrivals does the report expect in 2026?
1.57 billion international overnight arrivals, up 2% on 2025 and a record. Growth in 2025 was 6%.
How many travellers would let AI book a trip?
36% say they would trust AI to complete a travel booking; 53% would consider it for recommendations and 58% would use it to search and compare prices.
What should a hotel change first for 2027?
Put rooms, rates, inclusions and policies in plain text on its own site and in its Google listing, then add a clearly priced value tier with upgrades.