This year it will be held in San Salvador, with a program based on demonstrations, with ministers and leaders of the sector as protagonists, the operation of AI will be shown live instead of just debating it. We are looking for better decisions for governments, companies and travelers, new skills for tourism workers and new ways to make destinations known.
The celebration of World Tourism Day was established in the third meeting of the General Assembly of the WTO (September 1979, Spain) from 1980. This date was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism: the anniversary of the adoption of the UNTO Statutes (September 27, 1970).
The date of World Tourism Day is especially appropriate, since it coincides with the end of the high season in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of the season in the southern hemisphere.
It is clear that tourism is more than an economic sector, it is an accelerator of social progress, which favors education, generates employment and creates new opportunities for all. The materialization of these benefits makes it essential to adopt a well-planned and inclusive approach, which sets sustainability, resilience and social equity at the center of tourism development and decision-making.
Tourism has always evolved through innovation, and artificial intelligence is about to become the next great transformation. World Tourism Day 2026 explores how artificial intelligence can help create smarter, more inclusive and sustainable tourism by making better decisions, strengthening capacities and improving the experience and management of tourist destinations.
Travelers plan their trips through digital platforms and, increasingly, asking to artificial intelligence: where should I stay, what should I see and where I should go. It is essential that the destinations have a voice when it comes to shaping all this. World Day Tourism, which has been held in all Member States since 1980, aims to that the world sees the value of tourism. In 2026, the question is: who benefits from this transformation and who decides?
Why this year is different from any other
All the previous topics indicated a force that tourism should take advantage of. The topic of this year is a force that is already redesigning the sector while the day is celebrated:
For the first time, the technology in question is deciding, every day, which destinations they see the travelers. AI responses are becoming a commercial space and, when visibility can be bought, the big brands will buy it. The window in which establish the rules is now open, and will not be reopened.
Nor has any other host been found in the position in which the Savior. Weeks before the celebration, El Salvador co-presides the first global Dialogue of the United Nations on the governance of artificial intelligence in Geneva, the only forum Universal dedicated to discussing how this technology is regulated. The country that hosts World Day of Tourism dedicated to AI is the same that presides over the global debate on AI.
What will World Day offer?
A celebration designed to be seen, not read. In San Salvador, a program based on in demonstrations, with ministers and leaders of the sector as protagonists, will show the operation of AI live instead of just debating it: looking for better decisions for governments, businesses and travelers, new skills for tourism workers and new ways to make destinations known.
Worldwide, a global public campaign will give each Member State the opportunity to participate the same day of the event. And beyond that day, a lasting result: the bases of the first common position of the sector on the technology that is now transforming it, a position that will be promoted through the governing bodies of UN Tourism.
This year, the issue is not an issue that tourism observes, but an issue to which the tourism must respond. On September 27, in San Salvador and in all states Members, it will.