
The Most Powerful Room in Global Travel
North Javits Center, New York City | September 22-24, 2026
Every September, Skift Global Forum is where travel’s top leaders come together to pressure-test assumptions, confront what is changing across sectors, and define the strategies that will shape the industry’s next chapter.
Join us as we discuss Travel's Great Recalibration: exploring how sectors evolve and stay ahead in this time of geopolitical volatility, technological upheaval, and rapidly shifting traveler behavior. This is the industry’s most trusted room for signal over noise, and we're revamping SGF to be more intelligence-led and judgement-driven than ever before.
‘This forum really is a must on the calendar for anyone passionate about travel, tech, and innovation. Already excited at the thought of being back next year.’
‘The energy in the room was unmatched, and the opportunity to connect with such incredible minds across the industry was invaluable.’
‘I left Global Forum, the biggest travel conference I’ve attended in years, feeling equal parts energized and stunned.’
2025 By The Numbers
Who Will Attend
Top travel and hospitality leaders will join us in 2026.








Speakers
From top CEOs of the largest travel brands to new entrepreneurs driving innovation, the voices on stage represent the industry’s best leaders.
Agenda
Formats

Skift Stage Panels

Expert-Guided Roundtables

Breakout Sessions
2026 THEMES:
- Who Controls the New Travel Interface and Intent Layer?
- The Growth Decisions Facing Hospitality Under Pressure
- How Airlines Remain Agile in a Reordered World
- Destinations Balance Discovery, Demand, and Disruption
- The Travel Trust Stack: How to Remain Human-First
- Shifting Demographics and the Next Billion Travelers
- How Creators Are Unlocking the Future of Storytelling
- Building for Communities, Connection, and Purpose
- AI Agents and the Rewiring of Customer Experience
Agenda and Sessions are Subject to Change.
North Javits Center
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8:00 am
Registration Opens
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9:00 am
Skift Meetings Forum
The Skift Meetings Forum for 2026 arrives at a defining moment for the events industry. Building on the first three Forums, the latest edition will explore how the events industry is reinventing itself to ensure it thrives in a rapidly shifting business and geopolitical landscape. Learn more.
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9:00 am
Skift Creator Summit
The Skift Creator Summit is a closed-door strategy forum focused on the accelerating convergence of creators, commerce, and travel distribution. The Summit examines how creator-led influence is moving from brand marketing into measurable demand generation, transactions, and long-term customer trust.
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1:00 pm
Women Leading Travel: Leadership Exchange
Women Leading Travel Leadership Exchanges brings together senior women leaders in travel and hospitality in one room, off the record, to talk about the industry challenges and opportunities. Learn more.
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2:00 pm
Skift Live Tourism Summit
The Skift Live Tourism Summit is an invitation-only gathering focused on live tourism: travel demand created by time-bound live moments such as sports, concerts, festivals, civic milestones, and global cultural events. The Summit convenes senior leaders from travel, destinations, and the live-event ecosystem to develop a shared executive understanding of how live tourism works in 2026, where it is concentrating, and how operators can design capacity, pricing, bundling, trust, and partnerships around event-led demand.
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5:30 pm
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5:30 pm
Opening Discussions
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5:35 pm
Owning More of the Travel Journey
Moderator
Rafat Ali - CEO/Founder, Skift -
6:05 pm
Moderator
Rafat Ali - CEO/Founder, Skift -
6:30 pm
Building a Competitive Advantage for the Long Term
Moderator
Dennis Schaal - Founding Editor/Executive Editor, Skift -
7:00 pm
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7:30 am
Registration Opens
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8:00 am
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8:00 am
Expert-Guided Roundtables
Expert-Guided Roundtables are intimate, off-the-record breakout sessions hosted by industry leaders across a wide range of topics, covering shifts in consumers, technology, marketing, strategy, and operations. These tactical discussions allow attendees to engage in candid, solutions-driven discussions on urgent industry challenges.
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9:00 am
Forum Welcome
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9:10 am
Recalibrating Travel: What AI Changes, and What It Doesn’t
Moderator
Sean O'Neill - Senior Hospitality Editor, Skift -
9:40 am
Reimagining the Global Growth Map
Moderator
Gordon Smith - Airlines Editor, Skift -
10:05 am
Moderator
Carolyn Kremins - President, Skift -
10:20 am
Creating Value for Travelers and Investing in the Future
Moderator
Dennis Schaal - Founding Editor/Executive Editor, Skift -
10:45 am
Networking Break
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11:15 am
How Travel Search, Discovery, and Booking Are Being Rewritten
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11:40 am
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Anna KofoedAllianz PartnersChief Officer for Global Strategic Partnerships -
Jason McCauleyAlaska AirlinesDirector of Commercial Partnerships and Business Development
Moderator
Carolyn Kremins - President, Skift -
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11:52 am
Rethinking Impact and Sustainable Frameworks That Scale
Moderator
Sarah Kopit - Editor-in-Chief, Skift -
12:12 pm
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Jason GamelARDAPresident and CEO -
Gordon GurnikHilton Grand VacationsSenior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
Moderator
Darren Frei - Skift Studio -
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12:25 pm
Hotels, AI, and Building for Long-Term Economic Value
Moderator
Sean O'Neill - Senior Hospitality Editor, Skift -
12:45 pm
Lunch and Breakout Sessions
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1:45 pm
How to Build for Travel’s Agentic Future
Moderator
Sean O'Neill - Senior Hospitality Editor, Skift -
2:15 pm
Moderator
Darren Frei - Skift Studio -
2:25 pm
Capital Allocation: How Should Travel Invest in its Future?
Moderator
Seth Borko - Head of Research, Skift -
2:50 pm
Moderator
Carolyn Kremins - President, Skift -
3:00 pm
Permission to Exist: Rethinking the Role of the Industry
Moderator
Rafat Ali - CEO/Founder, Skift -
3:30 pm
Networking Break
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4:00 pm
Skift Research: Travel's Great Recalibration Index
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4:15 pm
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Kunal ShahZSManaging Partner, Travel & Hospitality -
Mark GalardoAir CanadaExecutive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, and President, Cargo
Moderator
Jeremy Kressmann - Vice President, Skift Studio -
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4:35 pm
How to Plan For an Uncertain Future
Moderator
Sean O'Neill - Senior Hospitality Editor, Skift -
5:00 pm
Transforming Travel's Future
Speakers to be announcedModerator
Sarah Kopit - Editor-in-Chief, Skift -
5:30 pm
Rebuilding as an AI-Native Company
Moderator
Rafat Ali - CEO/Founder, Skift -
6:00 pm
End of Day Reception
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8:00 am
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8:00 am
Expert-Guided Roundtables
Expert-Guided Roundtables are intimate, off-the-record breakout sessions hosted by industry leaders across a wide range of topics, covering shifts in consumers, technology, marketing, strategy, and operations. These tactical discussions allow attendees to engage in candid, solutions-driven discussions on urgent industry challenges.
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9:00 am
Meet the Skift Idea Awards Winners
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9:05 am
The Next Chapter: The Future of Hospitality Is Human
Moderator
Sarah Kopit - Editor-in-Chief, Skift -
9:30 am
Staying Agile in a Rapidly Shifting Global Market
Moderator
Gordon Smith - Airlines Editor, Skift -
9:55 am
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10:05 am
Driving Innovation and a New Wave of Change
Moderator
Peter Greenberg - Travel Editor, CBS News -
10:30 am
Networking Break
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11:00 am
Building Businesses that Take Everyone Into Account
Moderator
Sarah Kopit - Editor-in-Chief, Skift -
11:20 am
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11:35 am
Predicting the Future Traveler: A Decade of Data, A Decade of Decisions
Moderator
Chase Gray - Director of Strategy, Skift Advisory -
11:50 am
The Flavors That Connect Us
Moderator
Sree Sreenivasan - CEO/co-founder, Digimentors -
12:15 pm
Closing Verdicts
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12:30 pm
Forum Ends
Expert-Guided Roundtables
Included with your ticket. Seats are limited, and roundtable registration opens first to the earliest SGF registrants.


AI & THE FUTURE OF BOOKING
- Co-Pilot or Full-Service: How Far Should Your AI Agent Actually Go?
- Closing the AI Gap: From Workforce Delight to Bottom-Line Results
- Talent in the AI Age: How Organizations and Teams Evolve
REVENUE, PRICING & TECH STRATEGY
- Dynamic Pricing Strategies and Making Data-Driven Decisions
- Build, Buy, or Partner: The New Math of Travel Tech Strategy
- Travel Tech: What to Build and What Investors Will Fund
CUSTOMER GROWTH & LOYALTY
- Real-Time Personalization for Travel: Turning Browsers Into Bookers
- Strategies for Value Over Volume: Driving Durable Demand
- Loyalty's New Importance in Travel's Trust Stack
- Bridging the Gap: Winning Over the Next Generation of Travelers
PRODUCT & EXPERIENCE
- What It Actually Takes to Build a Travel Product People Love
- Unlocking Travel's Experience-led Era
- How Can We Make Travel More Accessible?
Register Now
Onsite tickets: $3,895
↔️ Plans not final? Reassign tickets later.
🧾 Invoice or wire needed? events@skift.com
For teams attending together
Group Tickets
Use Group Tickets to purchase multiple tickets (2+).
Discounted pricing applies to 3+ tickets.
$3,545
For one attendee
Solo Ticket
For single-ticket purchases only.
$3,695
CAN't attend in person?
Access the livestream.
Skift annual subscribers can attend for free.
Subscribers get exclusive discounts on Skift Live events.
included with every ticket
✔️ Skift Global Forum: three days at North Javits Center, New York City. Keynotes, panels, expert-guided roundtables, networking breaks, and evening receptions.
✔️ Skift Live app - already live. Browse attendee profiles, connect, and schedule onsite meetings before you travel.
✔️ Skift Intelligence Briefing - already live. Research on the forces reshaping the sector, in your inbox one week before you arrive.
✔️ The Skift Takeaway - one-scroll summary published after every session, same day.
✔️ The Skift Verdict - editorial synthesis across all sessions, published a few days after the event closes.
✔️ Session recordings - full video of every session, available on demand after the event.
Everything Included With Your Ticket
Your ticket delivers value before you arrive, throughout the event, and long after you return home.

Better Together
Got a team? Got clients? Bring them to Skift Global Forum.
Group rates are available for teams of 3+, with special pricing for larger groups (10+). Email events@skift.com to learn more.
Cover more ground, share insights, and build stronger client relationships.

Venue

North Javits Center
After a standout event in 2023, Skift Global Forum returns to the North Javits Center.
Set on Manhattan’s West Side, the venue’s contemporary design, natural light, and Hudson River views create a dynamic environment for the global travel industry’s most important conversations.
North Javits Center - 445 11th Ave, New York, NY 10001, United States
Supported By
OPENING NIGHT PRESENTING SPONSOR
TRAVEL INDUSTRY SPONSORS
knowledge partner
app sponsor
Transcription & Translation Provider
Sponsor Opportunities
Want to be part of the event? Sponsor opportunities include main stage talks, networking, workshops, and more. Reach out to sponsorships@skift.com to learn more.
Past Skift Global Forum Highlights
Watch past conversations from previous years.