With 2026 looming on the horizon, we have taken a look back at the year that’s drawing to a close and wanting in the direction of what could come next.
For us who cowl the fields of travel, tourism, hospitality, and aviation, which means retaining a watch out for each upcoming trends and people who’re certain to set the world on fireplace with recent concepts that may shake up standard pondering, ushering in higher methods of displaying travellers the world round them.
In this specific characteristic, we current three people with the potential to drive the trade’s evolution, together with three trends we see taking centre stage in the year to come.
Three faces to watch in 2026
Beatrice Leong (proper) prepares to lead her masterclass on inclusive occasions at BE @ Penang 2025
Malaysia: Beatrice Leong, gender and accessibility advocate
We had each the honour and the privilege of assembly Beatrice Leong on the not too long ago concluded BE @ Penang 2025 in Malaysia the place she made a robust case for accessibility in travel and tourism, notably the place MICE is worried.
As an advocate for gender equality and accessibility for all, Leong famously stated: “Activist is just a fancy word for people who like to scold governments.”
In her case, although, scolding governments has yielded nice outcomes: Leong’s intrepid drive and that of different accessibility advocates has gone a good distance with regard to making travel and hospitality in Malaysia extra inclusive.
She has not been afraid to ask the tough questions and is sort of upfront with strategies on how areas will be made extra accessible for many who understand or expertise the world in a different way from others, not solely on a bodily stage, however on a neuro-psychological stage, as nicely.
With regard to dwelling design, in specific, she requested of her viewers: “Accessibility is definitely about how usable is your area, how usable is your product, your service design. How form are you in coping with individuals who have anxiousness, who’re in all probability dealing with melancholy, however nonetheless want to exit to purchase groceries? These issues require readability of knowledge. How are you conveying the structure of knowledge?”
Leong believes that, whereas full accessibility for all may not likely be doable, people want accessibility on a regular basis; that, in flip wants adjustment on the a part of hospitality suppliers, airways, and facility managers, together with a larger understanding and persistence with travellers who see or expertise the world in a different way from everybody else.
Hers is a voice we glance ahead to listening to, particularly given the growing emphasis on accessibility the world over.
Miguel Cabel Moreno dishes up helpings of his Amor del Mar seafood speciality at a four-hands dinner at Crimson Boracay
Philippines: Miguel Cabel Moreno, Michelin-lauded chef and culinary heritage advocate
In a recent interview held in the wake of From Shore to South, a four-hands dinner collaboration at Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay, Filipino chef and culinary advocate Miguel Cabel Moreno informed us in regards to the girl who approached him simply minutes after he obtained two Michelin Bib Gourmand nods for his eating places Palm Grill and Cabel.
As Cabel Moreno remembers: “She went and told me ‘I would actually prefer to receive your award than a Michelin Star.’ When I asked her why, she explained that it was an award given by the people rather than the critics.”
To say that Cabel Moreno’s meals is a love letter to the individuals who love to eat could be severely underplaying the significance of his work to the individuals of Southern Mindanao, a area that has been bypassed all too regularly by Philippine tourism officers preferring to tout the colonial treasures of Luzon and the Visayas.
Indeed, selling the delicacies and heritage of such a far-flung and criminally underrated (and, certainly, oft maligned) vacation spot has been an uphill climb for the chef.
As he put it: “I used to tell potential diners: ‘Look, Mindanao food is Filipino food. It’s pretty much as good as the same old Filipino aptitude that you just take pleasure in; just give it a attempt.’ So, that has been a continuing battle. Despite our meager advertising and marketing efforts, presence, and all that, I’m grateful that we had been ready to keep. And the coming of the Michelin Guide validated all that hard work for us; it helped pave the best way for my eating places. Speaking on my restaurant’s behalf, it opened so many doors for Filipinos to finally get to try it because an entity as huge as Michelin Guide validated and recognized us for what we do. Because of that, it opened individuals’s eyes, and now they need to attempt it.”
As of press time, Cabel Moreno is poised to open a brand new department for Palm Grill at Tambayan, the brand new meals corridor at Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 3.
Likewise, his kids’s books Migoy: The Tausug Boy and The Tale of Putli Mandi, written in English, Filipino, and the chef’s native dialect Bahasa Sug, have gone a good distance in presenting the tradition of Southern Mindanao to kids of the northern and central elements of the nation, in addition to the remainder of the world as these had been featured on the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair.
Dr Bona Nahyun Lee (centre) listens as a information explains the historical past of Penang’s George Town district
South Korea: Dr Bona Nahyun Lee, best-selling writer and tech evangelist
The magnificence of up to date expertise lies in the best way it makes issues simpler for individuals, no matter what trade they could belong to.
Such is the case with the MICE sector, a discipline whose professionals too usually find yourself burnt out as they want to take care of the tedium of planning and coordination nicely earlier than the precise occasion goes dwell.
But for BornTiger chief govt and tech evangelist Dr Bona Nahyun Lee, up to date applied sciences go a good distance in the direction of making issues simpler and extra environment friendly for occasions professionals.
During her discuss The AI-powered Future of Business Events, Lee identified the rising number of instruments out there for dealing with every part from planning to precise showrunning.
Artificial intelligence (AI), in specific, takes a lot of the stress out of the equation, seeing the way it permits professionals to create entire displays with only a few key phrases, put together precise occasion sequences, and even simulate venues in use to give all stakeholders a complete preview of their endeavour, enabling them to make the required changes nicely beforehand.
At current, most of Lee’s books are in Korean, however we glance ahead to the day when her knowledge on innovation and automation makes it to a wider global viewers.
Three trends to keep watch over in 2026
Regenerative and rehabilitative tourism past Asia
One of the most important talks in the course of the 2025 PATA Destination Marketing Forum in Thailand was a presentation on Doi Tung, a sustainable vacation spot in the north of the nation which was, alas, a hotbed for legal exercise in the infamous heyday of the Golden Triangle.
Decades on, nonetheless, Doi Tung has greater than cleaned up its act, because it now serves as a cultural hub that provides among the greatest espresso, tea, and even macadamia nuts on the continent.
That being stated, Doi Tung’s story ought to serve for instance and inspiration to different nations when it comes to reworking areas with a lower than fascinating fame into locations that provide classes from their historical past together with specialities endemic to the area.
In doing so, governments can help communities by way of what is called regenerative tourism and primarily deliver hope to areas with a darkish previous and provide a approach in the direction of a brighter future.
We have seen such transformations in battle-torn areas like many elements of Japan, in addition to the Philippine islands of Bataan and Corregidor; in any case, anybody who fails to hear the tales of the previous or heed their classes is certain to make the identical tragic errors.
Immersive studying experiences for the next technology of travel and tourism professionals
MICE is not only a approach by which industries can collect their greatest and brightest beneath a single roof, however these occasions additionally function a studying expertise for the next technology of execs.
We noticed this first-hand at BE @ Penang and at PDMF2025 when entire contingents of scholars and their mentors made their approach over to hear to the trade’s foremost minds to achieve larger data.
Having been an instructional myself, I can’t state sufficient on how publicity to precise trade professionals and experiences helps spherical out a person’s schooling: they get to see life in the actual world, see the present professionals at work, and achieve a larger understanding of the careers they face when schooldays finish.
Also, I’ve come to the conclusion that the concepts supplied by college students nonetheless shyly do have a substantial amount of benefit: it takes somebody who has not but been jaded by the rigours and stresses of the occupation to give you recent concepts or new methods to strategy previous points, bringing these nearer to decision.
Time to rethink MICE
MICE has developed considerably all through this year, and the inclusion of devoted Experience Zones at occasions like ITB Asia have opened the eyes of many occasion organisers to numerous prospects.
With expertise altering at such a speedy clip, notably interactive programming, MICE professionals want to sit down and contemplate the place they could greatest intrgrate these improvements in their occasions.
Indeed, relatively than simply hopping from one sales space or pavilion to one other while urgent flesh or gathering brochures, interactive applied sciences assist contributors get a larger understanding of the occasion or of current improvements, thus encouraging them to delve deeper and be taught extra.
Likewise, thanks to the introduction of hybrid occasions, nascent and present applied sciences make it doable for these abroad to get in on the motion without having to really be on website.
While this will likely appear awkward, it does give the phantasm of really being there with out constructing an environmentally unsound carbon footprint, thus additionally incomes factors for sustainability.
We’ve a lot to take into consideration for the approaching year, however one factor is definite: with travel and tourism evolving so quickly, the perfect factor we are able to do is sit again, loosen up, and simply be there for the experience into elements unknown.
