Leading Tourism into Balance: The Opening
Summary
This is the opening segment of the ITB Future Track at ITB Berlin 2026, the conference's 60th anniversary 'Jubilee Edition.' The session is hosted by Katie Gallus (Moderator, Journalist, Geographer) alongside David Ruetz (Senior Vice President and Board Member, Messe Berlin) and Deborah Rothe (Director, Messe Berlin GmbH), with Prof. Dr. Heinz-Dieter Quack (Professor of Tourism Research, Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften) as host of the Future Track.
The overarching theme of ITB Berlin 2026 is 'Balancing Tourism,' framed as a philosophical and strategic imperative for the travel industry in a period of compounding global crises. David Ruetz opened with a historically grounded argument for balance, drawing on two illustrative examples: the fall of the Roman Empire — where unchecked power, economic instability, and overexpansion caused collapse — and the post-World War II creation of the United Nations, which institutionalized international balance and dialogue over destruction.
The speakers positioned balance not as caution or timidity, but as the mechanism through which resilience is built. Key tensions the industry must navigate include: innovation versus regulation, environmental sustainability versus human progress, and ambition versus restraint. The term 'polycrisis' was explicitly invoked to characterize current global conditions — a convergence of artificial intelligence disruption, climate change, and geopolitical conflicts (both global and regional).
A key message from Ruetz: 'Balance is not weakness. It is progress guided by wisdom and it is ambition grounded in responsibility.' The framing positions balance as active, strategic, and forward-looking rather than passive.
Airbnb was acknowledged as co-host of the ITB Berlin Convention, marking a notable industry partnership. The full convention program promised discussion with hundreds of experts across the packed days, covering AI leverage, crisis navigation, and resilience-building in travel and tourism. The session set the intellectual and thematic agenda for what was framed as a landmark anniversary edition of one of the world's most significant travel industry gatherings.
Key Takeaways
- •ITB Berlin 2026 marks 60 years of the conference — described as a 'very special anniversary' and 'Jubilee Edition,' positioning it as a landmark moment for global travel and tourism industry reflection and direction-setting.
- •The conference theme 'Balancing Tourism' was defined as finding equilibrium across multiple tensions: power and responsibility, freedom and order, and ambition and restraint — with balance framed as a strategic tool, not a compromise.
- •David Ruetz invoked the fall of the Roman Empire as a cautionary case study: Rome's peak power was undone by economic instability, political corruption, and overexpansion — a direct analogy to the risks facing the tourism industry if growth is pursued without balance.
- •The creation of the United Nations after World War II was cited as a historical proof point that institutionalizing balance and prioritizing dialogue over destruction leads to sustainable progress — a model Ruetz suggested the travel industry should follow.
- •The 'polycrisis' framework was explicitly named as the context for 2026's conversations, referring to the simultaneous convergence of AI disruption, climate change, and regional and global geopolitical conflicts affecting the industry.
- •Ruetz stated directly: 'Balance is not weakness. It is progress guided by wisdom and it is ambition grounded in responsibility' — articulating the conference's core philosophical stance against reactive or extreme responses to industry challenges.
- •Airbnb was named as the co-host of the ITB Berlin Convention, signaling a significant industry partnership between the world's leading travel trade show and the dominant home-sharing platform.
- •Resilience was identified as the practical outcome of implementing balance — across technology use, tourism strategies, and daily operational decisions — with speakers framing it as something built through deliberate equilibrium rather than crisis response.
Transcript
Welcome everybody. It's great to see you. Great to see you as well joining us in the live stream. Good morning or good afternoon or maybe good evening from whatever time zone you are joining us. And again a round of applause to all of you being here making it and uh yeah having safe travels to Berlin. Welcome to ITV 2026. Another round of applause. It's great to see you all. [applause] This is exactly what we need a full house here when the ITB family is gathering again in March in Berlin for th...
