The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) will bring more than 200 travel and tourism chief executives and senior leaders to Valletta for its 26th Global Summit from October 7 to 9, the body said on September 3.
Hosting the sector’s premier CEO gathering is a calculated bid by Malta to trade on scale: for a small Mediterranean island competing against far larger destinations, putting the industry’s most influential decision-makers on its soil for three days is worth more in relationship-building and investment signalling than any conventional marketing spend. Malta Tourism Authority chief executive Carlo Micallef said the summit was an opportunity to place the country in front of those shaping tourism’s future.
Among the confirmed attendees are Christopher Nassetta, president and chief executive of Hilton; Elie Maalouf, global chief executive of IHG Hotels & Resorts; Alejandro Reynal, chief executive of Four Seasons; Tony Fernandes, chief executive of Capital A; Jane Sun, chief executive of Trip.com Group; and Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Group’s cruise division. Also attending are Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, and senior executives from Accor, Marriott International, Expedia Group, Amex Travel and Virtuoso.
The summit runs under the theme “FUTU[RE]SET”, framed around how the sector adapts to artificial intelligence, shifting consumer expectations and geopolitical change. The programme will focus on public-private collaboration, investment and building resilience against disruption.
For many of the delegates, the summit will be a first visit to Malta, the WTTC said. The council’s economic-impact research forecasts travel and tourism will make a significant contribution to the Maltese economy in 2026.
“Travel and tourism is entering a new era, and the summit will give leaders the opportunity to address the forces reshaping our sector,” the WTTC’s president said. The event follows the council’s 25th summit in Rome in 2025.
Why it matters for the trade
The delegate list is the story for the trade: the concentration of hotel, cruise, aviation, distribution and destination-investment leadership in one place makes the WTTC summit a dealmaking and partnership venue as much as a conference, and Malta’s decision to host puts it in front of exactly the capital and brand relationships a mid-sized destination needs to move up-market.
The presence of Gulf players (Diriyah, NEOM, OMRAN, Cruise Saudi, Ras Al Khaimah) alongside the global hotel majors signals where destination investment attention is concentrated. For operators and destination marketers, the value is in the sidelines rather than the stage: the summit is a fixture worth tracking for the partnership announcements and investment signals that tend to cluster around it.
The organiser’s economic contribution figures for Malta are based on WTTC research, not independent data, and should be read as such.