Bianca Pizzolito reveals growth in the total number of participants, professional development sessions, meetings, and exhibiting brands; the final day's program featured a debate hosted by the CNC, panels on regional integration and AI, and discussions on Indigenous tourism.
Bianca Pizzolito, Event Leader for WTM Latin America, presented data compiled on April 16, the final day of the 2026 edition of the trade show, underscoring the edition's positive outcome. She highlighted consistent growth across key indicators and the event's consolidation as a strategic business platform for the tourism sector. According to Pizzolito, this year's edition saw an increase in the total number of tourism professionals, a higher caliber of participants, a record number of exhibiting brands, and an expanded international presence, reinforcing the trajectory of expansion observed over recent years.
WTM Latin America grew from 32,026 participants in 2025 to 35,463 in 2026—a 10.75% increase. Bianca emphasized that, in addition to boosting visitor volume, the central focus of this edition's strategy was audience quality. As a result, the event recorded an increase of over 75% in the number of "high-value visitors"—participants identified as key to generating business. Within this segment, the growth among travel agents was even more significant, surging 115% compared to the previous year to reach a total of over 18,500 professionals—a figure reflecting the organizers' year-long efforts to attract strategic profiles.
The executive also highlighted the performance of the meeting scheduling platform. According to Bianca, there was a 25% increase in the number of meetings confirmed through the tool, totaling over 9,200 appointments throughout the event. Engagement levels also rose, with more than 35% of individual participants actively utilizing the platform to conduct meetings during the trade show.
On the exhibitor side, Bianca reported that WTM Latin America 2026 achieved an all-time record, bringing together 936 exhibiting brands—a figure 13% higher than that recorded in the previous edition. In total, 53 countries (8% more than in 2025) participated in the event. According to the executive, these figures reinforce the trade show's positioning as an increasingly relevant environment for fostering business and connecting destinations, companies, and tourism professionals.
Bianca emphasized that WTM Latin America is the result of a collective effort. “Tourism functions like a living organism that relies on the integration of all its parts to establish its standing,” she said, highlighting the importance of collaborative work among the team, exhibitors, visitors, Advisory Board members, and institutional partners. “The success of the event reflects this shared effort throughout the entire year,” she noted.
Among the key highlights of the 2026 edition, she singled out the hosting of the Ministers’ Summit—described by her as the realization of a long-held dream for the organization. “The gathering brought together representatives from eight countries and fostered an internal ministerial discussion focused on themes such as sustainability, responsible tourism, and regenerative tourism, with an emphasis on establishing joint guidelines and strengthening institutional dialogue among the participating nations,” she noted with satisfaction.
Assessing the overall outcome, Bianca Pizzolito stated that, beyond the qualitative feedback received during the event, the figures validate the strategies adopted by the organization. According to her, the central objective of WTM Latin America remains to enhance the business atmosphere, create conditions for high-quality meetings, and stimulate interactions that translate into concrete opportunities for the sector. Concluding her remarks, Bianca announced that the next edition of WTM Latin America has already been scheduled and will take place from April 13 to 15, 2027.
High-quality content is also a strategic pillar.
On the final day of the 2026 edition of WTM Latin America, the sessions reinforced the focus on responsible tourism, regional integration, technological transformation, and the strengthening of Indigenous tourism—notably featuring the participation of the National Confederation of Commerce in Goods, Services, and Tourism (CNC), which hosted a seminar on a topic of significant relevance to the regional landscape. Under the theme “Public Policies to Strengthen Responsible Tourism,” Aline Lopes, Manager of the CNC’s Business Council for Tourism and Hospitality, argued that public policies play a strategic role in fostering a more sustainable, inclusive, and competitive tourism sector in Brazil, while emphasizing the need for collaboration among the public sector, the private sector, and representative organizations.
In her view, integrated planning and the enhancement of tourism offerings contribute to data intelligence and the development of more responsible and resilient destinations—balancing economic growth, environmental preservation, and respect for local communities. Aline also highlighted the CNC’s role as a unifying force within the travel market across various levels throughout the country, citing initiatives such as the “Vai Turismo” project—launched during the pandemic—and the Responsible Tourism campaign, which compiles insights and best practices to guide the sector’s growth.
She further highlighted the production of competitive intelligence, workshops, debates, and the creation and monitoring of public policies as essential fronts, concluding that expanding tourism’s participation across different levels of government—while aligning actions with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Smart Tourism Destinations (STDs)—is decisive for “shaping the tourism we want.”
The WTM agenda also featured a call for regional integration during the “America for America” panel. Veronica Pardo, Chile’s former Minister of Tourism, asserted that the unification of Latin American nations is fundamental to transforming the region into a global tourism powerhouse. She drew attention to the need to look more closely at neighboring borders and at the natural and cultural wealth found within the continent itself. In her view—given a landscape where travelers increasingly seek unique experiences and natural beauty—Latin America possesses a “golden destiny” and should view tourism among Latin American countries as a dynamic akin to domestic tourism, driven by a logic of integration.
Within the innovation track, the session titled “The New ‘AI-First’ Traveler: How Artificial Intelligence Has Changed the Travel Purchase and Consumption Journey”—featuring Ricardo Souza, Revenue Growth Leader for Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean at Lighthouse—pointed to a significant shift in how consumers plan and book their trips. He observed that AI has accelerated search processes and heightened expectations for immediate, precise answers, arguing that the primary focus should be on information and content—rather than solely on price and links—because the more information a company provides, the more material AI can generate to support the customer's decision-making process.
Two debates focused on Indigenous tourism in Latin America. In the session titled “Policies, Alliances, and International Cooperation to Strengthen Indigenous Tourism,” representatives from governments and organizations discussed creating favorable conditions through public policies, financing, cooperation, and institutional strengthening. The session featured Jean-Philipe Le Moigne (Destination Original Indigenous), Harris Whitbeck (Guatemalan Tourism Institute), Julliana Bettini (IDB), Arianna Cevallos, and Juliana Paula de Paiva Oliveira. The group reached a consensus on the urgent need to ensure the participation of Indigenous leaders in decision-making processes at the municipal, state, and national levels; in the case of Brazil, efforts to enhance financing mechanisms specifically aimed at Indigenous tourism were highlighted. Moderator Jean-Philipe also commended the space provided for these discussions and suggested that exhibiting destinations bring more market-ready experiences to future editions of the event.
Meanwhile, in the session “Authentic Experiences Through the Voice of the People,” Indigenous leaders and representatives of various initiatives reinforced the idea that Indigenous tourism serves as a pathway for benefits to flow directly to communities, enabling the Indigenous peoples themselves to develop tourism in accordance with their own aspirations. Frank Antoine (World Indigenous Tourism Alliance) emphasized the priority of safeguarding ancestral lands and highlighted the importance of maintaining ongoing relationships with communities and governments, guided by an intergenerational perspective.
Adrian Leonel Gomez Chimal, from the Kíichpam K'áax Ecotourism Center, linked Indigenous tourism to community-based tourism and championed its potential to empower Indigenous leaders and generate economic and social benefits. Participants also underscored the importance of cooperation with public authorities, the private sector, academia, and sustainable tourism networks, as well as the need to encourage professionals to connect directly with their communities—building projects side-by-side to ensure concrete results and a well-structured tourism offering. In addition to the training curriculum, the three theaters also hosted special programming: a series of training sessions offered by destinations for Hosted Buyers and travel agents, as well as Speed Networking sessions with influencers, Hosted Buyers, and Buyers’ Club members—strategic meetings designed to accelerate qualified connections within the event. The “Agente Protagonista” (Agent Protagonist) program, launched this year, featured 25 panels and lectures focused on the professional development of travel agents.