The 12th Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) will be held in Macao, China, from 15 to 17 October 2026, focusing on the theme “Crisis · Resilience · Evolution – Building a Tourism Economy for a Shared Future”. This event will bring together leaders from politics, business, academia, and international organizations to address key issues and create a blueprint for shared progress.
International tourist arrivals reached a record 1.52 billion in 2025, according to the latest data from UN Tourism. This highlights the role of tourism as a driving force for mutual learning among civilizations, restoring global trust, and spurring sustainable growth.
Global Tourism Economy Forum
The Global Tourism Economy Forum began in 2012 and has held eleven meetings, gathering more than 15,500 attendees from 88 nations. It acts as a link between China and the rest of the world, supporting cultural alignment, commerce, and the exchange of ideas.
The newly released 15th Five-Year Plan for Cultural and Tourism Development by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism designates GTEF as a key national strategic platform, mandating the expansion of its global reach. This marks the Forum’s transition from a Macao-born exchange platform into a key vehicle for China’s high-quality opening-up in cultural tourism, as well as a major contributor to global tourism rules and trends.
Core Pillars and Frontier Topics
The 12th GTEF will focus on five main areas: Resilient Governance, Technology and Innovation, The New Traveller, Culture and Identity, and Sustainable Growth. Topics will include global cultural tourism capital deployment, China-Europe and Asia-Pacific connectivity, mountain-dwelling tourism, and investment facilitation.
Attendees will also examine emerging ‘Tourism+’ business models such as AI empowerment, educational tourism, sports IP, cultural heritage revitalisation, and experiential retail, offering forward-looking guidance for global industry transformation.
Partner Country and Featured Province
Spain will serve as the Partner Country to share its mature experiences in destination refined governance, balanced regional development, and sustainable transformation as a model for the global cultural tourism industry. Hainan Province joins as the Featured Province to highlight China’s high-standard opening-up through the launch of island-wide special customs operations for the Free Trade Port alongside expanded visa-free policies.
Leveraging the Forum, Hainan and Macao will drive substantive progress in policy complementarity and resource sharing while opening new avenues of cooperation in multi-destination tourism itineraries development, reciprocal visitor flows, and international MICE synergies.
Forum Programming and Support
The Forum will include business matching, cultural tourism promotions, and themed dinners. Adopting an integrated “MICE + Delegation Visit” model, the event extends its programming to Macao world heritage culinary tours and wellness tourism site visits in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, opening concrete new channels for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area supply chain cooperation and investment execution.
The event is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, maintaining long-term strategic partnerships with UN Tourism and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). It also works closely with leading international tourism organisations, including the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), European Travel Commission (ETC), World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), World Tourism Alliance (WTA), International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA), and Sino-International Entrepreneurs Federation (SIEF), continuously building global governance cooperation to write a new chapter in sustainable global cultural tourism development.
The decision by the United Nations to designate 2027 as the “International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism” directly addresses this call of our time. The 12th Global Tourism Economy Forum · Macao 2026 looks forward to joining hands with global stakeholders to handle challenges with greater ecosystem resilience, forge stronger synergies through deeper cooperation, and lead industry breakthroughs with visionary innovation, shaping an open, inclusive, prosperous, and sustainable future for global cultural tourism.
For more details and the latest updates regarding the Forum, please visit https://www.gte-forum.com/en/ or follow the official GTEF social media accounts.