At Future Leaders in Travel 2026, 135 rising professionals gathered in the Riviera Maya to talk AI, entrepreneurship, relationships and what it really takes to build a travel career today.
The future of travel may be arriving faster than its name suggests. At El Dorado Royale in the Riviera Maya, a new generation of advisors and suppliers spent four days talking about everything from AI and lead generation to client relationships and revenue. There were one-on-one meetings, candid conversations about the realities of running a travel business and, thankfully, enough time outside the conference room to remember why everyone got into travel in the first place.
Future Leaders in Travel 2026 brought together 135 emerging professionals, 74 travel advisors and 61 suppliers representing 122 agencies, companies and organizations. Ninety-one percent came from the United States, with additional participants traveling from Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Dominican Republic. Hosted for the first time at a Grupo Lomas property, the TravelAge West program is powered by Northstar Travel Group and designed specifically for rising professionals in the industry.
What unfolded in the Riviera Maya offered an interesting glimpse into what the next generation of travel professionals is preparing for — and how different the job already looks.
Being a Travel Advisor Means More Than Knowing Where to Go
Knowing the destination still matters. So does knowing the hotel, the cruise line and which room category is actually worth the upgrade.
But for today's emerging advisor, that's only the beginning. Future Leaders is designed for pre-qualified advisors between the ages of 22 and 40, and its 2026 program reflected just how broad the profession has become. Sessions covered lead generation, revenue opportunities, client qualification, legal considerations, supplier relationships and how to communicate the value of professional advice in a world where travelers can find endless information on their own.
One of the simplest exercises may have said the most. An interactive Intention Wall asked participants to respond to four prompts: Stop, Start, Ask and Grow. What should change? What needs to begin? What questions still need answers? Where is the next opportunity?
It turned professional development into something tangible.
Not simply What did you learn?
But what will you actually do differently when you get home?
AI Was in the Room. So Was the Human Touch.
It would be almost impossible to gather a group of young travel professionals in 2026 and not talk about AI. The conversation wasn't about whether technology belongs in the business. It was about knowing where it belongs. Sessions explored how automation can make day-to-day work more efficient without stripping away the judgment and personal service that make an advisor valuable in the first place.
A tool can organize a workflow, streamline a message or help sort through information faster. What it can't easily replicate is the moment when a client says one thing but clearly means another, or when a carefully planned trip suddenly goes sideways and someone needs to know what to do next.
That may be one of the more useful ways to think about AI in travel right now:
Automate what doesn't need to be personal so there is more time for what does.
Relationships Still Need a Room
Travel has become extraordinarily easy to conduct through a screen. Relationships remain another matter. Future Leaders builds one-on-one appointments directly into its format, giving advisors and suppliers dedicated time to understand how the other side of the business actually works. Collaborative sessions went further, exploring communication, client knowledge and the kinds of partnerships that become useful long after everyone has gone home.
“The next generation of travel advisors is not simply entering the industry; they are bringing new ideas about how travel is discovered, sold, and experienced,” said Vicente Madrigal, Chief Commercial Officer of Grupo Lomas. “Understanding how they think, how they build their businesses and what they need from their partners is essential.”
For suppliers, those conversations offer a closer look at how younger advisors are building their businesses. For advisors, they can become the beginning of a network they'll rely on later, for destination knowledge, client requests or the inevitable moment when a trip needs fixing.
Email can make an introduction instant. Trust still takes time.
Sometimes the Best Classroom Has an Ocean View
There was another advantage to holding: eventually, everyone had to leave the meeting room.
The AAA Four Diamond, adults-only resort became part conference venue, part living example of the product many attendees may someday recommend to clients. Scheduled sessions gave way to outdoor gatherings, dining, music and social events designed to bring some of the Riviera Maya into the program itself. That mix is intentional. The event combines education with an outdoor activity and social experiences with local flavor, creating space for conversations that don't always happen across a conference table.
It also gives advisors something no sales deck can quite provide: a sense of place. You can memorize room categories. You can study resort maps. You can scroll through hundreds of photographs. But understanding how a place feels, the rhythm of the service, the food, the people, the atmosphere after the sun goes down, usually requires actually being there. For a travel advisor, those details often become the difference between describing a hotel and genuinely recommending it.
The Future Looks More Entrepreneurial
Perhaps the clearest message was that today's travel advisor is increasingly expected to think like a business owner. That means knowing destinations, yes, but also generating leads, managing revenue, choosing technology carefully, developing supplier relationships, explaining the value of professional expertise and creating an experience compelling enough that clients come back. The profession is becoming a blend of travel expert, entrepreneur, marketer, relationship builder and increasingly sophisticated technology user.
What hasn't changed is the human judgment at the center of it. In the Riviera Maya, 135 emerging advisors and suppliers offered an early look at what that next chapter might look like.
They aren't waiting to inherit the travel industry. They're already reinventing their place in it.