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At Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Summit, industry experts shared why authentic local connections and a broader view of history will shape future travel.
As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday this summer, a panel of travel experts gathered in New York City at Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Summit to discuss the future of domestic tourism. And while visitors will always love the U.S. for its national parks, luxury experiences, and historic stays, these industry insiders believe that connecting with local communities and rethinking the nation’s legacy will reshape how travelers experience the country in 2026 and beyond.
“I think hospitality is all about rebuilding communities and making them stronger,” said hotelier Sheila Johnson, the cofounder of BET and America’s first Black female billionaire. Her Salamander Collection boasts properties across the country, including the Salamander Washington, D.C. and T+L favorite Hotel Bennett in Charleston. The flagship Salamander Middleburg, located in Virginia’s horse and wine country, contributes about $1.8 million to the community each year and employs roughly 500 of the town’s 760 residents.
“We aren’t just in the hotel business, we’re there for the community at large,” she said. “It’s not just about building the structure, brick and mortar, but it’s about touching the hearts and minds of people.”
The same can be said for the Alaska Native–owned Icy Strait Point, the first private cruise destination in Alaska. There, on the Inside Passage, everything is locally run, from shops selling handcrafted art to restaurants serving fresh-caught Alaskan Dungeness crab, and travelers have the opportunity to directly engage with the community, said Russell Dick, the president and CEO of the Huna Totem Corporation.
“We want them to understand who we are as Alaska Natives, we want them to understand the values,” he said. “We want you to understand how we live in these communities, how we subsist from hunting and fishing, how important our culture is to us as Alaska Native people.”
Across the country in the colonial heart of Virginia, Williamsburg is similarly working to reshape travelers’ ideas about democracy, the American Revolution, and the early days of the country itself. As the “largest living history museum,” there are exhibits on the African American experience in America, that of Indigenous people, and more, said Jennifer Case, the managing marketing officer of Visit Williamsburg.
“History is not staid, it changes,” Case said. “Colonial Williamsburg is expanding the story, telling a fuller picture of history. It’s not always the pretty story, but it’s the most accurate and authentic. And I think it means something to those that come and interact with it.”
Dr. Louise Mirrer, the president and CEO of the New York Historical, echoed the sentiment, noting the museum aims to “lean into democracy.” The museum traces more than 400 years of American history through its collection of art, documents, and artifacts, and current exhibitions explore topics like the women of the American Revolution and queer joy.
“We want to show the world that democracy lives here,” she said, “that we treasure it just as much as we did 250 years ago when we entered into this great experiment, that we struggle today as we did in the past. We haven’t perfected our society yet, but we are a nation of people with the will to form a more perfect union. That has been our goal.”
No matter where travelers go in the country, it’s about having an authentic and incredible experience. And that can happen anywhere from Disney World to a dude ranch to the Southwest, said Stacy Fischer-Rosenthal, the CEO and president of luxury travel membership club and concierge Fischer Unlimited.
It’s about “getting away and just disconnecting,” she said.
Read the original article on Travel & Leisure
