Conference Opening
The official opening of the first edition of ITB Americas, welcoming delegates, partners and speakers to three days of conversation about the future of travel across the hemisphere.
Stage 1
Future, Technology & Innovation
Opening Keynote: State of Tourism in the Americas
Where does tourism in the Americas stand today, and where is it heading? This opening keynote sets the scene for the conference with a data-driven view of demand, investment and growth across the region, and the forces that will shape the next chapter.
Future, Technology & Innovation
Agentic Commerce: The Invisible Infrastructure Layer
AI agents are starting to search, compare and book travel on behalf of travelers. This panel looks beneath the interface at the infrastructure that makes it possible: payments, connectivity, inventory and data. What does it take for a travel business to be ready when the customer is an algorithm?
Participating speakers
Pedro Guerra
Co-Founder & COO
Zatlas
Kim Ricaurte
US Travel Sales Manager
Airwallex
Marketing, Distribution & Growth
The Distribution Shift: How OTAs, AI Agents and Direct Booking Are Rewriting the Rules
The path from inspiration to booking is changing faster than at any time since the smartphone. This conversation explores how online travel agencies, AI assistants and direct channels are redrawing the distribution map, and what that means for who owns the relationship with the traveler.
Participating speakers
Salim Arkuch
VP, Market Management, LATAM & Caribbean
Expedia Group
Marketing, Distribution & Growth
The Reinvention of Loyalty: Win and Keep a Customer for Life
Points, tiers and status built a generation of travel loyalty. But travelers now expect recognition, flexibility and value that goes beyond accumulating miles. This panel looks at how loyalty is being reinvented and what keeps a customer coming back for years, not just for the next booking.
Participating speakers
Julio Andrés Morales
Area Sales Manager
HBX Group
Olivier Ponti
Director of Market Intelligence & Insights
Amadeus
Future, Technology & Innovation
AI Inside the Hotel: What Actually Works Beyond the Chatbot
Every hotel has heard the AI promise. Fewer know which tools deliver results. This panel moves past the chatbot to look at where AI is already improving revenue, operations and the guest experience, and where expectations still outrun reality.
Participating speakers
Alfredo Rodríguez
Regional Sales Director
SiteMinder
Andrea Suarez
Director of Operations
Dharma
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
The New Luxury: What Premium Travelers Really Want
Luxury is no longer defined by marble lobbies and long amenity lists. Today's premium travelers are looking for meaning, privacy, authenticity and time well spent. This panel explores how hotels and experience providers are redefining luxury and how they design, price and deliver it.
Participating speakers
Lourdes Hainlin
VP Partner Services
Forbes Travel Guide
Paola Prieto
Co-Founder & Board Member
NAO Travel Collection
Marketing, Distribution & Growth
Storytelling That Sells: How Travel Brands Turn Content into Real Impact
Great travel content does more than look beautiful. It moves people to act. This conversation, illustrated with film clips, explores how brands and destinations build stories that inspire travel and deliver measurable results.
Participating speakers
Arturo Torres Landa
Editorial Director
Food and Travel Mexico
Rob Holmes
Founder & Chief Strategist
GLP Films
Marketing, Distribution & Growth
The LATAM Traveler Your Booking Funnel Wasn't Designed For
Latin American travelers research, pay and book in their own way. Many booking funnels were built for other markets and leave revenue behind. This keynote unpacks the behavior of the LATAM traveler and what hotels and travel brands need to change to convert them.
Participating speakers
Sebastien Leitner
VP Strategic Partnerships
Cloudbeds
Marketing, Distribution & Growth
Powering Better Travel Experiences Through Payments
Payments are the moment where a travel journey succeeds or stalls. This keynote looks at how smarter payment infrastructure can reduce friction, open new markets and create better experiences for travelers across borders and currencies.
Participating speakers
Andrew Beckmann
Travel & Hospitality Industry GTM Lead
Stripe
Sustainability, Talent & Responsible Travel
The Real Inclusivity in the Travel Space
Accessible travel is often treated as a compliance checklist. For millions of travelers with disabilities, it decides whether a trip is possible at all. This interview explores what real inclusivity looks like on the ground and why it represents one of the most overlooked opportunities in travel.
Participating speakers
Arturo Gaona
Co- founder & Chief Partnerships Officer
Wheel The World
Stage 2
Mobility, Aviation & Connectivity
Contactless Travel: Biometrics, Digital Identity and the Future of the Passenger Experience
Digital identity and biometrics promise a journey without paper passports or boarding passes. The technology works. But who gets left behind, who owns the data, and what happens when the system fails? This panel looks at the promise and the open questions of contactless travel.
Destinations & Public Sector
Beyond the Beach: How Destinations Diversify Their Product and Actually Sell It
Sun and sand built many of the region's tourism economies. Long-term growth depends on what comes next: culture, gastronomy, nature and new regions. This conversation explores how destinations develop new products and, just as important, how they take them to market.
Participating speakers
Angel del Rosario Pichardo
Deputy Director of Domestic Tourism
Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic
Danny Cohanpour
Founder & CEO
Trove Tourism Development Advisors
Future, Technology & Innovation
AI for Smarter Destinations: Balancing People, Planet and Prosperity
Destinations have more data than ever on who visits, where they go and how they spend. This keynote shows how AI and destination intelligence can help tourism boards manage flows, protect residents and the environment, and grow the visitor economy at the same time.
Participating speakers
Carlos Cendra Cruz
Chief Marketing & Communications Officer
The Data Appeal Company
Destinations & Public Sector
Mexico's Tourism Policy as a Regional Model
Mexico has built one of the largest tourism economies in the Americas. This keynote from Mexico's Secretary of Tourism shares the policies behind that growth and what other countries in the region can take from the Mexican experience.
Mobility, Aviation & Connectivity
The Invisible Border: How Visas, Regulation and Policy Friction Shape Tourism
Before a traveler boards a plane, policy has already shaped the trip: visa requirements, entry rules, taxes and regulation. This panel examines how these often invisible frictions affect connectivity and tourism flows across the Americas, and what could make travel between countries easier.
Participating speakers
CUITLÁHUAC GUTIÉRREZ
SVP, Institutional Relations, Government and Industry Affairs
Aeroméxico
Sustainability, Talent & Responsible Travel
Who Benefits When Tourism Grows? Local Businesses and Inclusive Supply Chains
Tourism growth does not automatically reach the communities that host it. This panel looks at how local businesses, community enterprises and inclusive supply chains can keep more value in destinations, and what tour operators and hotels can do to make that happen.
Participating speakers
Richard Bazán
Regional Manager for the Americas
Planeterra
Sarah Payne
Managing Director, Reset Tourism Fund
UnTours
Sebastián Muñoz
Founder & CMO
Rutopía
Luciana de Lamare
Founder & President
Instituto Aupaba
Sustainability, Talent & Responsible Travel
Three Destinations, One Vision: What Responsible Tourism Looks Like
Three destinations from across the Americas share how they are putting responsible tourism into practice. From protecting natural assets to engaging local communities, this panel compares real strategies and the lessons learned along the way.
Participating speakers
Bruno Wendling
President & Executive Director
Matto Grosso do Sul Tourism Board
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
Building Product for the New Generation
Younger travelers are reshaping what travel products need to offer, from how they discover and book to what they value once they arrive. This presentation brings consumer research on the next generation of travelers and what it means for product design.
Participating speakers
Alexis Aranda
Associate Consultant
Euromonitor
Stage 1
Destinations & Public Sector
The Comeback Destination: Turning Crisis Into Competitive Advantage
Some of the fastest-growing tourism economies in the Americas were once defined by crisis. This panel brings together destinations that rewrote their own story, and explores what it takes to change international perception, rebuild trust and turn a difficult past into a reason to visit.
Participating speakers
Alejandra Durán
Executive Director
Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador
Enrique de la Madrid
Strategic Consultant and Economic & Political Analyst
Faro21 Consultores
Destinations & Public Sector
The Chinese Traveler Is Coming to the Americas. Is Your Destination Ready?
Chinese outbound travel is recovering and looking toward new horizons, including the Americas. This keynote explains who these travelers are, how they plan and pay, and what destinations and businesses need in place to welcome them.
Participating speakers
Marcus Lee
CEO
China Travel Online
Destinations & Public Sector
Lights, Camera, Arrivals: How Screen Content Became the Most Powerful Marketing Tool in Tourism
A successful film or series can put a destination on the map overnight. The smartest destinations are no longer waiting to be discovered: they are building incentives, film commissions and partnerships to attract productions. This panel explores how screen content became a tourism strategy and how to measure its return.
Participating speakers
Raúl Orozco
Head of Incentives and Support for the Film and Audiovisual Industry
FILMA Jalisco
Mariana Aldrigui
Tourism Researcher
Universidade de São Paulo
Destinations & Public Sector
Hosting at Scale: What Mega-Events Actually Do to a Destination
With the FIFA World Cup now behind us, the Americas has its first real data on what a mega-event delivers. This panel compares expectations with results and asks what it takes to turn a moment of global attention into lasting tourism value.
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
Wellness & Longevity: Recovery and Vitality for the Modern Traveler
Travelers increasingly expect to come home feeling better than when they left. This keynote explores how wellness and longevity are moving from the spa menu into the core of hospitality, and what that means for design, programming and guest experience.
Participating speakers
Arabelle del Pilar Rosario
Spa & Wellness Director - Dominican Republic | Luxury & Lifestyle Brands, Meliá Hotels International | Founder, Belle Spa Academy
Meliá Hotels International
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
Sell, Join or Stand Alone: The Most Important Decision in Hospitality
For an independent hotel owner, few decisions matter more: sell the property, join a brand or collection, or stay independent. This panel weighs what owners gain and what they give up with each path, from distribution and operations to identity and guest loyalty.
Participating speakers
Sebastien Leitner
VP Strategic Partnerships
Cloudbeds
Paola Washbusch
CEO
The Human Collection Hotels
Rocco Bova
Founder
Summit Mexicano de la Hospitalidad
Sustainability, Talent & Responsible Travel
The Future of Tourism Workforce: Training, Recruiting, Attracting and Retaining Talent
The travel industry faces a talent shortage while automation reshapes many of its roles. This conversation looks at how companies and universities can train, attract and retain the people tourism will need, and which skills will matter most.
Participating speakers
Francisco Madrid
Director of the Sustainable Tourism Advanced Research Center (STARC)
Universidad Anáhuac Cancún
Sara Meaney
Managing Partner
Coraggio Group
Mariana Aldrigui
Tourism Researcher
Universidade de São Paulo
Stage 2
Mobility, Aviation & Connectivity
AI in Aviation
AI is changing how airlines operate, sell and serve passengers, from network planning to the onboard experience. This keynote looks at where AI is already making a difference in aviation and what comes next for travelers and the industry.
Participating speakers
Enrique Perella
Bureau Chief
Business Traveler
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
The Active Traveler in the Americas: Adventure, Nature and Untapped Demand
Adventure and nature travel is one of the fastest-growing segments in tourism, and the Americas has some of the world's most diverse landscapes to offer. This panel explores who the active traveler is, what they are looking for, and where demand remains untapped.
Participating speakers
Andrés Díaz
Regional Manager
Adventure Travel Trade Association
Mobility, Aviation & Connectivity
Routes We Need vs. Routes the Market Can Sustain
Every destination wants more air connectivity, but not every route can survive commercially. Opening with travel demand data, this panel explores how airlines, airports and destinations decide which routes to open and what it takes to make them last.
Participating speakers
Olivier Ponti
Director of Market Intelligence & Insights
Amadeus
Sustainability, Talent & Responsible Travel
No Snow, No Water: Reinvention When Climate Change Cancels Your Product
What happens when the attraction itself starts to disappear? Shorter ski seasons, water scarcity and extreme heat are forcing destinations to rethink what they offer. This panel looks at climate change as a product design challenge and shares how destinations are reinventing themselves.
Participating speakers
Mark Willunh
Executive Director
Alianza Mesoamericana de Ecoturismo
Gerardo Ibarra
Managing Partner
Experiencias Genuinas
Mario Dib
Co-Founder
Bushman Expeditions
Sustainability, Talent & Responsible Travel
Regenerative Tourism: How the Industry Is Moving from Reducing Harm to Restoring Nature
Sustainability has long focused on doing less damage. Regenerative tourism asks a bigger question: how can travel leave places better than it found them? This panel shares real examples of conservation, restoration and community projects driven by tourism.
Participating speakers
Iliana Rodríguez
Chief Sustainability and Institutional Dialogue Officer
Grupo Xcaret
Claudia Virgen
Executive Director
Ecobiósfera Expeditions
Vicente Ferreyra
Founder and Director
Sustentur
Destinations & Public Sector
Film Showcase - Presented by GLP Films
A curated selection of short films focused on the Americas, showing how visual storytelling can capture the people, places and stories behind a destination.
Stage 1
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
The LGBTQ+ Traveler in the Americas: Safety, Visibility, and the $218B Opportunity
LGBTQ+ travelers represent one of the most loyal and high-spending segments in tourism. Their choices depend on feeling safe and genuinely welcome. This panel explores what destinations and businesses across the Americas are doing to earn that trust, and why visibility matters.
Participating speakers
Rodolfo Gómez
Director of Revenue Management
Almar Resort
Michelle Fridman
Secretary of Tourism for the State of Jalisco
Virginia Arana
Membership Manager Mexico & Caribbean
International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA)
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
The Intentional Traveler: Who They Are, What They Want, and How to Build for Them
A growing group of travelers is choosing fewer, slower and more meaningful trips. From rail journeys to sailing voyages, they value the journey as much as the destination. This panel looks at who the intentional traveler is and how to design experiences around them.
Participating speakers
Regárdo Lewis
International Sales Manager
Rovos Rail
Lucky Harthoorn
Marketing, Sales & Brand Storytelling
Bark Europa
Experiences, Hospitality & Value Creation
Cruise Session — Title TBC
Cruising continues to grow across the Americas, bringing new ships, new itineraries and new types of travelers. This conversation explores how the cruise sector is evolving and what it means for ports, destinations and the communities that welcome passengers.
Marketing, Distribution & Growth
Turning Weather Into a Competitive Advantage
Weather is one of the biggest sources of uncertainty in travel planning, and one of the most overlooked commercial levers. This keynote shows how travel brands can turn weather risk into traveler confidence and new revenue.
Participating speakers
Daniel Price
Co-Founder
WeatherPromise
Women Who Decide: A Roadmap for Female Leadership in Tourism Across the Americas
Women make up the majority of the tourism workforce, yet remain underrepresented in its leadership. This special session brings together women leading destinations and companies across the Americas to share what it takes to reach the top and how the industry can open the way for others.
Participating speakers
Michelle Fridman
Secretary of Tourism for the State of Jalisco
Iliana Rodríguez
Chief Sustainability and Institutional Dialogue Officer
Grupo Xcaret
Stage 2
Future, Technology & Innovation
The Startups Reshaping Travel in the Americas
A new wave of founders across the Americas is rethinking how people plan, book and experience travel. This panel brings startup voices to the stage to share what they are building, what problems they are solving, and what the region's travel ecosystem needs to help them scale.
Participating speakers
Paul Sarfati
Founder & CEO
Bamba & Baboo Travel
Alex Veka
Founder & CEO
Vibe Adventures
Rudi Thun
COO
Mindtrip
Sustainability, Talent & Responsible Travel
The Tourism Industry's Uncomfortable Conversations: Protecting Vulnerable Communities
Tourism can create opportunity, but it can also expose vulnerable people to harm. This panel addresses the conversations the industry often avoids, from child protection to the inclusion of people experiencing homelessness, and looks at what businesses can do to protect the communities they operate in.
Participating speakers
Norma Negrete
Maestra en Ciencias Penales
ECPAT Mexico
Jorge Arturo Vieyra Mendoza
Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for the Americas
RIU Hotels & Resorts
Marketing, Distribution & Growth
Responsible Tourism Marketing: From Green Claims to Genuine Impact
Travelers are increasingly skeptical of green claims. This panel explores how destinations and brands can communicate sustainability honestly, avoid greenwashing, and tell stories backed by real impact.
Participating speakers
Alejandra Zita
Auditor, Trainer & Sustainability Specialist in Tourism and Events
GDS Movement
Mayte Redondo
Founder
Travel 2 Care People and Planet
Green Destinations Story Awards – Presented by Green Destinations
The Green Destinations Top 100 Stories recognize destinations around the world for good practices in sustainable tourism. This ceremony celebrates the awardees and the stories behind their work.
