When you think about why people travel, traditional reasons like sightseeing, relaxation, and family time probably come to mind. As we enter 2026, there’s another major force reshaping the leisure travel landscape: food. Culinary tourism is no longer a side dish. This main course is changing how people choose destinations, their itineraries, and how they share their experiences.

Youri Sawerschel, Founder of Creative Supply, warns that luxury hotels are drifting into sameness and that infinity pools, marble lobbies, and “local experiences” are no longer enough to justify a premium. He argues that in an AI-fuelled copy-paste world, the real long-term advantage will come from building cultural capital – a clear cultural point of view, active cultural production, and carefully curated communities – so that luxury brands become genuine cultural forces, not just nice places to sleep.

The travel industry is standing at the edge of another seismic shift. Just as online travel agencies (OTAs) revolutionized hotel distribution two decades ago, a new player is emerging; not a company, but an algorithm. With ChatGPT now capable of completing real transactions, artificial intelligence is moving from inspiration to execution, transforming how travelers search, compare, and book their stays.

Europe’s hotel sector is propelled by sustained travel growth during a period when supply growth is projected to be well below the historical average. This is capturing the attention of a wider cohort of global real estate investors. In this context, market participants are turning increasingly to data-driven approaches to identify the most promising investment opportunities.