Destinations International Brings Tourism’s Community-Impact Debate to WTM London 2026

Three executives will be available on 3–4 November to discuss resident wellbeing, visitor levies, housing pressures and European destination policy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Sophia Hyder Hock, Gabe Seder and Jane Cunningham will be available for media briefings at ExCeL London on 3–4 November 2026.
• The discussions will examine tourism’s social impact, public funding, visitor levies, housing affordability and resident sentiment.
• The WEF’s 2026 Travel & Tourism Development Index highlights why stronger visitor numbers do not necessarily mean greater benefits for host communities.
• WTM London runs from 3 to 5 November, while the Destinations International executives’ stated media availability covers the first two days.

As destinations rethink what successful tourism should deliver to the people who live there, Destinations International is taking the debate over visitor growth, resident wellbeing and public policy to World Travel Market London 2026. Three of the association’s senior leaders will be available for media conversations examining how tourism organisations can demonstrate benefits that go beyond arrival figures and spending.

The briefings are planned for Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 November at ExCeL London, during the opening two days of the trade event, which runs from 3 to 5 November. The association is offering one-to-one conversations, broadcast commentary and background discussions on contentious questions including tourism funding, housing affordability and the relationship between destinations and their residents.

The challenge of measuring tourism’s wider value

The questions come amid a broader reassessment of how tourism performance is measured. The World Economic Forum’s 2026 Travel & Tourism Development Index cautions that rising visitor activity and expenditure do not automatically produce stronger economic and social value for host communities. Its findings highlight the importance of managing crowding, affordability pressures and the assets on which long-term destination success depends.

For destination management organisations, this creates a practical challenge: demonstrating the value of tourism to people who may also experience congestion, pressure on housing or demands on public services. The questions are especially sensitive where public investment in visitor promotion competes with other local priorities.

Sophia Hyder Hock, Destinations International’s Chief Impact Officer, will address tourism’s social consequences and the role of community engagement in destination strategy. Her experience spans more than two decades of work in social inclusion, gender empowerment, cultural awareness and international development. Her perspective places the experiences of residents alongside conventional economic measures of tourism success.

Gabe Seder, Senior Director of Advocacy Policy and Program Development, will examine the political arguments around public funding, municipal visitor levies and the relationship between tourism and local housing affordability. He has worked on destination-development projects supported by organisations including the World Bank and USAID. Those subjects bring the debate into the decisions faced by local governments: how visitor-related costs should be funded, who should bear them and how tourism policy is explained to communities.

A European perspective on destination pressures

Jane Cunningham, Director of European Engagement, will bring a European perspective to policy and operations. With more than 20 years in the meetings and destination sectors, she oversees the association’s European membership programme and exchanges of knowledge across the Atlantic. Her proposed discussions will consider weakening resident sentiment, visitor levies and short-term rental restrictions, drawing on work with partners identified by the association including VisitScotland, Visit Wales and VisitCork.

The themes sit alongside the official WTM London conference programme, which is framed around resilience, rebound and reinvention in global travel. Destinations International’s media availability is an opportunity to examine what those ambitions mean when destination leaders confront competing expectations from visitors, tourism businesses, local authorities and residents.

Destinations International says its network comprises more than 8,000 members and partners across over 800 destinations in 34 countries and territories. The scale gives its leadership a vantage point across different markets, but the decisions under discussion remain highly local: a levy, a housing measure or a community-engagement initiative that works in one destination may have different implications in another.

The underlying question for tourism organisations is how to maintain a viable visitor economy while being accountable for its effects on everyday life. The London conversations promise to focus on that balance, and on what destination leaders can do to make the benefits and costs of tourism more visible to the communities they serve.