TSTT Tourism & Society - The WTTC welcomes fifty new members in 2026

The WTTC welcomes fifty new members in 2026

01-11-2026

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is bringing 2026 to a close with news that speaks for itself about the health of the sector. Over the course of the year, fifty companies have joined its ranks, eight of which have done so after belonging to the organisation at earlier stages. Their return has something of a reunion about it, and it confirms that the leading global platform for the private tourism sector remains a point of reference for those who wish to help shape the direction of the industry.

The list of newcomers is as broad as tourism itself. Alongside major names in hospitality are mobility companies, insurers, investment firms and retailers catering to travellers. Uber, Meliá Hotels International, Barceló Hotel Group, Club Med, Corinthia Group and Allianz Partners are among the organisations that have joined the council this year or chosen to renew their membership. They are joined by other heavyweight members such as Investindustrial, Pernod Ricard, Avolta and Grupo Piñero.

The presence of two such well-known Spanish chains as Meliá and Barceló, together with the Balearic group Piñero, underlines the role Spain plays in the international tourism conversation. These are companies that have grown hand in hand with sun-and-beach destinations, historic cities and emerging markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, and they bring to the council experience built up over decades.

One of the most striking developments has taken place within the Executive Committee, the body that sets the broad lines of the WTTC’s work. It has welcomed two emblematic names in luxury hospitality, Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental, whose arrival gives the council particularly visible backing in the high-end segment.

The case of Mandarin Oriental carries special symbolic weight. The group returns to the organisation after an absence of more than twenty-five years, at a time of clear expansion. It currently manages forty-seven hotels, sixteen residences and forty-three exclusive homes across thirty countries and territories, and has set itself the goal of reaching one hundred hotels by 2033. Its return is seen as a commitment to being present wherever the future of travel is being discussed.

Four Seasons, for its part, arrives in an anniversary year. Founded in Toronto in 1961, the Canadian company celebrated sixty-five years in business in 2026. Over that time it has built a portfolio of one hundred and forty hotels and more than sixty residential properties in forty-seven countries, becoming one of the undisputed benchmarks of luxury hospitality.

At the helm of the organisation, Mexico’s former Secretary of Tourism, Gloria Guevara, has described the arrival of these fifty companies as an unmistakable sign of confidence in the tourism industry. In her view, the variety of profiles joining the council faithfully reflects what the sector is today. Tourism is no longer understood simply as accommodation and transport, but as an ecosystem in which hospitality, urban mobility, travel insurance, investment and the services that accompany travellers at every stage of their journey all coexist.

The WTTC’s own figures help to convey the scale of that ecosystem. According to its projections for 2026, travel and tourism will contribute 11.9 trillion dollars to the global economy this year, equivalent to 9.9% of global gross domestic product. The sector will also support around 375 million jobs, roughly one in every nine jobs on the planet.

The organisation reflects this global outlook in its own internal structure. Its international team brings together professionals of twenty-two nationalities, a diversity that allows it to better understand the realities of very different markets and to convey to governments and institutions the voice of a sector that moves people, cultures and economies.

With fifty new members, a strengthened Executive Committee and economic forecasts that confirm the weight of tourism worldwide, the WTTC approaches the end of 2026 with renewed strength. The challenge now will be to turn that confidence into concrete action that benefits companies, destinations and the people whose livelihoods depend on them.

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