TOURISE Reframes Tourism Sector as Global Powerhouse on a Path to $16 Trillion During Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 23, 2026--

TOURISE advanced tourism’s role as a vital sector connecting industries, economies, and regions to address shared global challenges at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

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Often overlooked as a siloed industry, TOURISE pressed the importance of tourism being recognized as a strategic sector, contributing one in every $10 to global GDP and uplifting every industry it touches.

His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of TOURISE said alliances and collaboration across sectors will see tourism continue to rise.

“Tourism is more than a lifestyle sector, it functions as a strategic economic system. TOURISE serves as a platform where leaders form alliances to build shared solutions, where technology aligns with community development, finance with sustainability, and education with mobility. These partnerships will shape the next decade of tourism, creating trust and shared purpose to move the world forward.”

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, TOURISE hosted and participated in several key engagements, including Reshaping Tourism: A World of Possibility at Axios House, where His Excellency Al Khateeb joined global leaders to discuss tourism’s expanding strategic relevance amid economic transformation and shifting geopolitical dynamics.

Two strategic workshops anchored TOURISE’s Davos program. ‘ Can Tourism Save the World?’ convened senior leaders from across the tourism ecosystem and connecting sectors to examine how tourism can contribute to economic resilience and sustainable development. The session will inform TOURISE’s year-round agenda and the 2027 summit.

The second workshop, ‘ Agentic Tourism: From Insight to Action’, brought together global executives, technologists, and investors to explore tourism’s next frontier. Building on the Agentic Tourism Initiative launched at the Summit in November, the session advanced the development of an Agentic Tourism Protocol, a shared framework designed to enable safe, connected, and interoperable AI systems across the tourism sector.

Leaders and executives from Trip.com, Visa, TikTok, PayPal, Salesforce, Forbes, Avolta, ByteDance, and others participated in the TOURISE workshops, underscoring the breadth of industries now engaging with tourism as a platform for growth and innovation.

TOURISE also sponsored the annual Women Leaders Reception alongside Adecco Group, Pinterest, Bayer, and APCO. During the reception, TOURISE Advisory Board Member and Saudi Arabia Ministry of Tourism Deputy Minister of International Affairs, Hawazen Nassief, spoke to attendees to underscore the need to advance women into leadership roles across a sector where women represent nearly half of the global workforce.

Davos marked the start of TOURISE’s 2026 global calendar, which will include cross-sector workshops, industry insight reports, and new partnerships designed to propel tourism to the center of global transformation.

The future of tourism is being shaped now. Join the journey at tourise.com and be part of the next chapter at the next TOURISE Summit in March 2027.

TOURISE is the world’s premier platform shaping a new horizon for global tourism.

Under the umbrella of the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, the inaugural TOURISE Summit took place in November 2025 in Riyadh, bringing together global leaders to accelerate transformative deals and chart the sector’s future.

As a year‑round platform, TOURISE drives coordinated action across innovation, mobility, culture, and investment. Throughout 2026, leading into its second Summit in March 2027, TOURISE will expand its global community, launch insight reports, and advance its initiatives that turn bold ideas into real‑world solutions.

Together, we can shape the next 50 years of tourism. For more information, visit www.tourise.com

His Excellency Ahmed Al‑Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of TOURISE, convenes executives from Trip.com, Visa, TikTok, PayPal, Salesforce, Forbes, Avolta, ByteDance, and more at Davos 2026

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that a U.S. security guarantees document for Ukraine is “100% ready” after two days of talks involving representatives from Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia.

Speaking to journalists in Vilnius during a visit to Lithuania, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is waiting for its partners to set a signing date, after which the document would go to the U.S. Congress and Ukrainian parliament for ratification.

Zelenskyy also emphasized Ukraine’s push for European Union membership by 2027, calling it an “economic security guarantee.”

The Ukrainian leader described the talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as likely the first trilateral format in “quite a long while” that included not only diplomats but military representatives from all three sides. The talks, which began on Friday and continued Saturday, were the latest aiming to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.

Zelenskyy acknowledged fundamental differences between Ukrainian and Russian positions, reaffirming territorial issues as a major sticking point.

“Our position regarding our territory — Ukraine’s territorial integrity — must be respected,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a Ukraine settlement with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during marathon talks late Thursday. The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but has not fully captured.

Zelenskyy said the U.S. is trying to find a compromise, but that “all sides must be ready for compromise.”

Negotiators will return to the UAE on Feb. 1 for the next round of talks, according to a U.S. official. The recent talks covered a broad range of military and economic matters and included the possibility of a ceasefire before a deal, the official said. There was not yet an agreement on a final framework for oversight and operation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russia and is the largest in Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Karol Nawrocki, at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures while speaking at a joint press conference with Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Karol Nawrocki, at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Karol Nawrocki, at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)