Repositioning Tourism in Global Economic Governance: Introducing the “Power of 40” at Davos 2026

Davos has long functioned as a symbolic and practical locus of the international economic agenda—an environment where policy orientations, investment priorities, and cross-border partnerships are debated and, increasingly, operationalized. Yet despite its macroeconomic relevance, tourism has historically remained underrepresented in the highest-level arenas of global decision-making, often treated as a downstream beneficiary of policy rather than a strategic input into it.

At Global Tourism Forum Davos 2026, we are advancing a deliberate shift in this paradigm through a new convening architecture: the “Power of 40” format—a curated, high-level summit designed to situate tourism within the governance conversations that shape capital allocation, connectivity, resilience planning, and national competitiveness.

The Power of 40

40 leaders. 40 strategic perspectives. One landmark convening.

Tourism as a Macroeconomic System, Not a Peripheral Industry

Tourism is frequently discussed through operational indicators—arrivals, room nights, load factors, or seasonality. While these are important, they do not capture tourism’s full economic significance. In aggregate, tourism’s direct and indirect effects extend across employment creation, foreign exchange generation, SME development, infrastructure upgrading, urban and regional transformation, and international positioning.

Tourism contributes in excess of 10% of global economic activity when its total value chain is considered, and it is tightly interdependent with aviation, hospitality, finance, real estate, technology, logistics, and cultural industries. For many economies—particularly those pursuing diversification—tourism is one of the most scalable instruments for job creation and investment attraction, especially for youth and women.

From this perspective, tourism should be approached not merely as a sector to be promoted, but as a strategic system to be governed.

Why Davos, and Why This Format?

The Davos context is defined by limited time, high information density, and an emphasis on closed-door dialogue that enables frank alignment between public policy and private capital. Conventional conference formats—large audiences, generalized panels, and passive consumption—are often misaligned with the Davos operating reality.

The Power of 40 format is intentionally structured to reflect that reality through:

1) Strategic selectivity

A limited cohort of decision-makers whose mandates intersect directly with investment frameworks, connectivity, destination competitiveness, and economic development.

2) Policy–capital interface

A setting where tourism is discussed at the intersection of public governance and private investment, enabling pragmatic discourse on bankability, risk allocation, regulatory certainty, and project readiness.

3) Outcome orientation

A bias toward actionable results—investment pathways, partnership structures, and replicable models—rather than symbolic participation.

In other words, this is not a visibility platform. It is an institutional space for strategic coordination.

Behind Closed Doors: Where Strategy Becomes Architecture

In practice, the most consequential decisions are rarely shaped in public sessions. They emerge from structured, high-trust environments where stakeholders can test assumptions, align incentives, and translate broad ambition into implementable frameworks.

Within this context, tourism’s role is increasingly inseparable from questions such as:

• resilience and risk management
• infrastructure financing and urban development
• aviation corridors and connectivity diplomacy
• sustainable destination governance
• digital transformation, data, and platform economics
• labor markets, skills, and productivity

Tourism is therefore not merely an economic activity—it is a governance domain that requires coordinated leadership at the highest level.

A Strategic Reframing: Tourism at the Center of Decision-Making

The premise of Global Tourism Forum Davos 2026 is straightforward: If tourism constitutes a structural component of the global economy, it must be represented proportionally in global economic governance.

The “Power of 40” convening is designed to contribute to that structural correction—bringing tourism into the rooms where decisions are formulated, investment is mobilized, and national strategies are refined.

Global Tourism Forum Davos 2026 — initiating a new era of tourism governance and investment dialogue.

Be part of this power.

#GlobalTourismForum #Davos2026 #PowerOf40 #TourismEconomics #GlobalGovernance #EconomicDevelopment #TourismInvestment #PublicPrivatePartnerships #DestinationGovernance #SustainableTourism #Competitiveness #Connectivity #Policy #InvestmentStrategy