At Skift Global Forum, the Room Is the Advantage

Skift Global Forum 2026 returns to New York City September 22-24 at the North Javits Center, bringing together the leaders shaping the next phase of global travel across hospitality, aviation, online travel, destinations, finance, loyalty, technology, and artificial intelligence.

The theme, Travel’s Great Recalibration, reflects the reality facing the industry now: growth is still present, but the operating model is under pressure. Demand is shifting. Distribution is being contested again. AI is moving from experimentation into core systems. Capital is more disciplined. Loyalty, pricing, and customer ownership are all being redefined.

That is why Skift Global Forum is designed as more than a stage program.

It is a room built around judgment.

A Faster Read on What Matters

Senior leaders do not come to Skift Global Forum simply to hear updates. They come to understand where the market is moving, where assumptions are breaking, and how their peers are making decisions under pressure.

On stage, leaders including Glenn Fogel, Bret Taylor, Christopher Nassetta, Ariane Gorin, and other global executives will be pressed on the questions shaping the next phase of travel:

• How will AI change the interface between brands, platforms, and travelers?
• Who owns the customer when discovery, booking, servicing, and memory move into AI-shaped systems?
• Is hospitality’s next phase of growth broadening across the market, or exposing new pressure on pricing power, owners, pipelines, and brand economics?
• How will airlines adapt to a world reordered by fuel pressure, geopolitical volatility, and changing travel corridors?
• How can destinations balance discovery, demand, and disruption as tourism growth becomes more uneven and more politically visible?
• Who is the next traveler, and how will shifting demographics, new wealth corridors, and renewed demand for human connection reshape travel?
• And many other topics.

These are not abstract themes. They are live operating questions for companies deciding where to invest, where to pull back, and which assumptions still hold.

The Decisions Leaders Need to Make Next

Every company in travel is trying to answer some version of the same questions:

• Which demand shifts are durable?
•  Where is AI creating real leverage? 
• Who owns the customer when discovery and booking move into new interfaces?
• Is hospitality growth broadening, or are pricing power and owner economics telling a more complicated story?
• How should airlines plan around volatility? 
• How can destinations grow without losing control of the visitor economy? 
• What will the next generation of travelers expect from experiences?

Skift Global Forum is built around these decisions. The program, the roundtables, the networking, and the post-event intelligence are all designed to help leaders sharpen their view of what deserves investment, attention, and action.

Before, During, and After the Forum

This year’s Skift Global Forum experience will be supported by new editorial products and formats that make the event more useful before and after attendees arrive in New York.

• Before: Attendees will receive a pre-read overview to sharpen their view on the assumptions being tested across the program.
• During: Sessions will move beyond traditional interviews and panels through more participatory formats, including live audience input, roundtable prompts, scorecards, and focused executive discussions.
• After: Skift will publish new post-event intelligence products, including session-level takeaways and a broader editorial verdict on what the industry should question, reconsider, or act on next.

The goal is simple: attendees should leave with more than inspiration. They should leave with a clearer read on the market.

Why the Room Matters

The value of Skift Global Forum is proximity: to the executives making the calls, to the assumptions they are testing, and to the conversations that rarely show up fully in public remarks.

By the time a shift appears in an earnings call, a market report, or a recap, the underlying decision may already be in motion. A partnership has been explored. A budget has moved. A technology pilot has become part of the operating plan. A distribution strategy has quietly changed.

Skift Global Forum brings those signals into the room earlier, through the people closest to the decisions. That is why the experience matters as much as the agenda.

Who Should Be in the Room

Skift Global Forum is for senior leaders responsible for growth, strategy, distribution, brand, product, investment, technology, and customer relationships across travel.

It is for executives who need to understand where the industry is heading before the answer becomes obvious. For teams making decisions that will shape the next 12 to 18 months. For leaders who know that in a recalibrating market, the advantage goes to those closest to the signal.

Skift Global Forum 2026. September 22–24. North Javits Center, New York City.