Thursday, 29 January, in Milan there was Travel Innovation Day 2026, organised by the Digital Innovation Observatories of Politecnico di Milano: an annual benchmark event for presenting the results of the research by the Travel Innovation and Business Travel Observatories, to which HBenchmark has also contributed its support for several years now.

During the event, updated data on the performance of the travel market in 2025 and forecasts for 2026 were presented across its various components (hospitality, transport, organised tourism, experiences), along with an overview of innovation trends in the sector, focusing on Artificial Intelligence and new technologies.

The 2026 Research Key Insights are:

• Market in its “maturity phase”: After the booms of previous years, the sector is entering a phase of more contained, but structural growth. Hospitality reaches €38.7 billion, driven by increasingly essential digitalisation (57% of bookings are eCommerce).

• The AI Paradox: Se da un lato l’85% dei viaggiatori considera l’IA uno strumento chiave, per le imprese la sfida è passare dai “progetti pilota” a una vera governance dei dati che porti valore reale e misurabile.

• Strategic Business Travel Despite a slight contraction in volumes, companies are investing in high added-value trips, focusing on sustainability and safety (Duty of Care).
• New choice drivers: The focus is shifting to extreme customisation and the creation of an ecosystem of recurring experiences throughout the year.

In such a complex context, the ability to read data in real-time becomes the real competitive advantage for destinations and accommodation facilities. We at HBenchmark are proud to support this transformation by providing the analytical foundations necessary to navigate change.