Tourism’s next decade won’t be won by the places with the tallest towers or the flashiest masterplans. It will be won by destinations that can connect cranes and capital to actual visitors — and then manage those visitors so growth doesn’t backfire.
That’s the crux of a virtual conference on 29 October 2025, where GlobalData will examine how to turn development pipelines into real demand, and how to keep communities onside while doing it. This event is free to attend—just register using the link below.
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The development–demand disconnect
Around the world, cities and regions are racing to attract foreign direct investment, announce districts and open hotels. Yet it’s common to see new assets arrive before air connectivity, audience strategy or distribution channels are in place.
The result is a familiar set of headaches: soft occupancy after grand openings, misaligned targeting and local weariness when benefits feel abstract.
Bridging that gap requires more than glossy campaigns. It means development, destination marketing and airline/route strategy working to a shared clock, with sustainability built into the operating model rather than tacked on as a slogan.
In short: plan for the visitor before you pour the concrete.
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By GlobalDataFive levers that move the needle
The playbook emerging across better-performing destinations has a few common threads:
- Match pipeline to segments. A new convention centre changes the demand mix before a single event is booked — but only if business events marketing, bid funds and city logistics line up early.
- Align routes, rooms and reasons. Growth happens when flight access, bed stock and a time-bound “reason to come now” reinforce each other. If one is missing, demand leaks to competitors.
- Use sustainability as capacity management. Overtourism is, at heart, a flow problem. Pricing, programming and dispersal by season, neighbourhood and time of day can smooth peaks without stifling spend.
- Measure promotion by outcomes, not outputs. Impressions and likes are cheap. Destinations increasingly track the chain from search to itinerary to spend-per-arrival.
- Earn a community licence. Residents are the most credible channel a place has. Jobs, skills and quality-of-life gains need to be designed in — and talked about — from the start.
These aren’t abstract ideals; they’re operational choices. And they’re where the upcoming session promises to linger.
What the event will cover
The conference, “Destination Advantage: Turning Development into Tourism Demand,” is pitched as a practical conversation rather than a parade of case studies.
Nick (Nicholas) Wyatt, GlobalData’s Head of Research & Analysis, sets the frame: why construction, investment and promotion must work together if destinations want durable competitiveness rather than opening-week buzz.
Monia Bowari, Analyst at GlobalData, then digs into the economics of tourism development — when to encourage projects, how destination promotion can amplify them, and how to handle the challenges that accompany growth.
Expect real-world examples illustrating how projects and campaigns align (or don’t), with lessons on sequencing and risk.
An interactive roundtable brings in Colin Foreman, Editor at MEED, to explore the intersection of construction pipelines, FDI and brand-building. The panel will wrestle with overtourism, changing traveller expectations and the pragmatics of future-proofing destination portfolios.
Wyatt closes with takeaways for destinations and hotel groups, plus an outlook on what to watch in the next few years — from funding conditions to product trends and policy.
Who will get the most value
This isn’t a granular data download, nor is it a creative brainstorm. It’s built for people who sit at the seams: strategy planners and directors, development and FP&A managers, insight leaders, global and regional marketing directors, and interested C-suite execs who need a shared language across investment, infrastructure and demand generation.
If you’re asking questions like “What’s the economic and social impact of this project?”, “How do we avoid overpromising the brand before capacity exists?”, or “How do we convert destination promotion into measurable receipts?”, you’re the audience.
A quick diagnosis for your destination
Ahead of the session, three blunt questions can reveal where your plan is thin:
- Conversion: For each major opening in the next 24 months, which audience will fill it, through which channels, and with which spend KPI?
- Capacity: Do you know your seasonal and spatial carrying capacity — and have you set pricing and programming to steer demand accordingly?
- Coalition: Can your DMO/NTO, investors, airlines, hoteliers and community representatives articulate the same positioning and priorities?
If any answer is “not confidently”, you’ll likely find the discussion useful.
The small print — and a rare open door
The session is virtual, on 29 October 2025, and usually sits behind a client wall. GlobalData Conference is extending a special invite to Verdict readers, which means a wider set of practitioners can join the debate and put questions directly to the analysts.
Speakers include: Nick (Nicholas) Wyatt (Head of Research & Analysis, GlobalData); Colin Foreman (Editor, MEED); Monia Bowari (Analyst, GlobalData).
If your destination is investing heavily and you want those projects to translate into visitors — and into community benefit — this programme should prove a useful hour well spent.
Click here for event details and free registration: Destination Advantage: Turning Development into Tourism Demand
