Rome will welcome leaders from across the global travel and tourism industry this September as it hosts the World Travel & Tourism Council’s 25th Global Summit – an event seen as both a celebration of sector recovery and a strategic forum for shaping its future direction. With international arrivals surging and Italy set to surpass €60 billion in tourism revenue in 2025, the summit arrives at a moment of renewed optimism tempered by growing structural challenges involving sustainability, over-tourism and rapid technological change.
Confirmed speakers span the industry’s most influential CEOs and innovators, including figures from Marriott, IHG, MSC Cruises, Minor Hotels, Virtuoso, Trip.com and Google. Their discussions will centre on how artificial intelligence, digitalisation and smarter destination planning can help the sector balance accelerating demand with the need to protect cultural and environmental assets. Ahead of the summit, the WTTC released a six-step “smarter tourism” plan calling for better crowd management, long-term planning and infrastructure investment – signalling a shift from post-pandemic recovery to strategic resilience.
Symbolically, the event also marks a leadership handover at the top of WTTC, with Greg O’Hara passing the role of Chair to Manfredi Lefebvre – known for his stewardship of Abercrombie & Kent and the Heritage Group. This transition reflects the Council’s broader intent to fuse legacy industry expertise with next-generation innovation as the sector navigates a future defined by climate concerns, digital disruption and evolving traveller expectations.
For executives and policymakers, the Rome summit serves as a pivotal platform to forge partnerships and set priorities as tourism enters a new phase of growth. With visitor numbers rebounding strongly but pressure mounting for responsible management, the focus will be on converting momentum into sustainable, inclusive prosperity , ensuring that travel continues to be a global economic engine without undermining the very destinations it celebrates.
