Surrey joins global leaders at the World Economic Forum’s inaugural Beyond Tourism Day
Two Surrey academics represented the University in Geneva last month, as senior leaders from business, government and civil society met to shape a more resilient, inclusive and future-ready travel and tourism sector.
On Friday 25 September, Professor Iis Tussyadiah, Dean of Surrey Business School and Dr Marion Karl, Head of Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM) joined the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) inaugural Beyond Tourism Day in Geneva.
The event brought together 97 participants from 80 organisations across 22 countries and destinations, including leaders from the private sector, government and the wider tourism ecosystem. Across 11 sessions, they explored how tourism can contribute to more resilient destinations, stronger communities, workforce development and sustainable growth.
Two priorities for the future of tourism
Two overarching priorities ran through the day. The first was ensuring that growth creates meaningful benefits for communities, workers and destinations. The second was strengthening the collaboration and resilience the sector needs to navigate continued disruption.
For Dr Karl, a central theme was tourism’s connection with the wider experience economy, and what this means for the places we develop and the communities who shape them. “Not every demand signal should translate into more visitors,” she said. “Some call for better destination readiness; others for reshaping demand. AI can help us anticipate these needs and guide choices that create value for communities, businesses and visitors.”
This view challenges the long-standing habit of measuring success by visitor numbers alone. It asks destinations to read demand more carefully and to respond in ways that serve the people who live and work there.
Recognising impact at scale
Beyond Tourism Day also saw the presentation of the inaugural Beyond Tourism Impact Stars cohort. The programme recognises six initiatives that advance innovative and high-impact solutions across the travel and tourism ecosystem. Professor Tussyadiah served on the Impact Stars Evaluation Committee.
The theme of scaling impact continued in the session “Turning Tourism Challenges to Scalable Opportunities”, where Iberostar Hotels & Resorts and Accor shared practical insight from their own experience.
Five lessons stood out. Scaling impact starts with big ambitions. It works best when impact becomes everyone’s business, not the task of a single team. Peer learning helps organisations move faster together. Impact needs to be embedded by design rather than added later. And removing complexity makes action easier for staff, guests and partners alike.
Launch of the Travel & Tourism Development Index 2026
The day also marked the launch of the WEF’s Travel & Tourism Development Index 2026, the tenth edition of the Forum’s flagship benchmarking series. First launched in 2007 as the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index and relaunched in its current form in 2022, the Index gives governments, businesses and destination leaders comparable evidence on the conditions and policies that help travel and tourism grow sustainably, withstand disruption and support national development.
The launch held particular significance for Surrey: Surrey was WEF’s knowledge partner for the 2024 edition, with Dr Karl leading the Surrey team that helped revise the overall framework and introduce a new pillar on socioeconomic impact. The 2026 edition uses this framework unchanged.
The launch in Geneva placed this partnership alongside the day’s wider conversations on resilience, community benefit and collaboration, showing how robust evidence can inform the decisions that shape destinations.
Looking ahead
The Surrey team left Geneva with plenty of food for thought, and with a clear sense of the questions that matter most: how tourism can grow in ways that benefit communities, how organisations can scale proven solutions, and how better evidence and technology can guide smarter choices.
Professor Tussyadiah said: “Beyond Tourism Day showed what becomes possible when business, government and civil society work on shared challenges together. Evaluating the Impact Stars, I saw how much can be achieved when impact is designed from the start. At Surrey, we look forward to contributing our evidence and expertise as this work moves from dialogue into action.”
