From bookings to belonging - Building long-term value through community.

Andrea D'Amico, CEO of WeRoad, delivered a keynote at ITB Berlin 2026 (approximately 20 minutes, ~1,200 seconds) arguing that the travel industry's next competitive frontier is community and belonging — not acquisition optimization or feature development. D'Amico, who has been in travel and tech since 1998 and has been WeRoad's CEO for four years, opened with macro demand context: international arrivals grew from 222 million in 1975 to 1.5 billion in 2025, with projections of 2 billion by 2030. He argued that demand is not the industry's challenge — rather, the question is where the next generation of growth comes from.

The answer, he contended, lies in a fundamental behavioral shift among Millennials and Gen Z. He cited research showing that 3.6 out of 5 young people feel a need for real experiences to offset online time, 26% choose trips specifically to escape social media, 45% travel to get through a tough time, and 72% travel to try new experiences and discover new cultures. The motivating question has shifted from 'Where am I going?' to 'Why am I travelling?'

D'Amico connected this travel shift to a broader loneliness and disconnection crisis. Among individuals aged 25–45, 50% reported feeling lonely in 2022 (post-COVID data). Traditional community structures — church attendance, civic clubs, local engagement — have all declined. Dating apps surged in popularity but subsequently lost relevance because they offered scale without depth, leading to fatigue from high time investment with low meaningful connection. He noted that dating app stock prices have declined as a direct result of this dynamic. The counter-trend he identified is a resurgence of in-person interest communities: book clubs, running clubs, pottery classes — physical spaces organized around shared identity.

D'Amico argued travel is uniquely positioned to serve this need because: (1) it brings people together around genuine shared experiences and shared challenges (hikes, navigating new cities, travel problems); (2) group travel lowers social pressure because participants are not there to find a partner but to have an experience — connection is a byproduct rather than the goal; and (3) travel experiences can be intentionally designed for belonging, not left to chance.

WeRoad's business model operationalizes this thesis. Founded in 2017, the company designs experiences for small groups, from local events to global expeditions, using an internal team plus a network of hundreds of travel producers and event creators. The results: 300,000+ travelers to date, 32% of bookings from word of mouth, and 60% of customers booking two or more trips. High Trustpilot reviews and user-generated content replace traditional advertising.

D'Amico argued the competitive advantage in travel will increasingly come from community as retention infrastructure, not from pricing, filters, or features. He specifically called out the 'spaces in between' — the pre-departure window (where groups can begin connecting digitally), the in-destination moments, and the post-trip period — as underexploited opportunities for the industry to create lasting bonds rather than one-time transactions. The keynote closed with a spoken-word brand film from WeRoad that was delayed by a technical failure but ultimately played, reinforcing the emotional 'spaces in between' thesis poetically.