Trip.com Group convened attraction operators, tour providers, and travel-sector content creators in Shanghai on May 29 for the Attractions & Tours Global Partners Forum, a dedicated track within the company's annual Envision.2026 conference. The gathering made clear that artificial intelligence and creator-driven content are no longer peripheral experiments in the sector — they are becoming central operating levers.
For hospitality and experience operators, the forum's focus carries direct implications. As booking platforms deepen their AI capabilities, the way tours and attraction packages are surfaced, personalized, and sold to travelers is shifting rapidly. Operators who understand how algorithmic discovery works — and who build content strategies around it — stand to capture a disproportionate share of platform-driven demand. Those who don't risk being buried beneath competitors who do.
The role of key opinion leaders (KOLs) and travel content creators was equally prominent at the event. Trip.com Group's inclusion of influencer partners alongside traditional attraction providers signals that the line between marketing and distribution in the tours-and-experiences category is blurring further. For restaurant groups and hospitality brands that offer experiential dining or curated guest programming, this convergence is worth watching — content is increasingly functioning as a front-of-funnel booking driver, not merely a brand awareness tool.
Global collaboration also emerged as a core theme. As outbound and inbound travel volumes continue their post-pandemic normalization, the forum underscored that international partnerships between attraction providers and travel platforms are becoming a structural necessity rather than a growth bonus. Hospitality operators developing destination-anchored experiences can draw a direct line from these platform-level shifts to how they package and promote their own guest offerings.
Trip.com Group, which operates one of the world's largest online travel platforms, has been expanding its attractions and experiences coverage aggressively in recent years, positioning itself alongside its core hotel and flight booking business. The Envision.2026 conference format — with dedicated sectoral forums like this one — reflects how seriously the company is treating the A&T vertical as a growth category. Operators across restaurant and hospitality segments who rely on travel-platform traffic should pay close attention to where these investments are headed.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
