Global Sustainable Tourism Summit 2026
Mark your calendars! Ecotourism Australia is proud to announce the 2026 Global Sustainable Tourism Summit, taking place 4–6 June 2026. This landmark event will bring together global leaders, innovators and changemakers in sustainable tourism.
Stay tuned – the host destination will be revealed soon!
About the Global Sustainable Tourism Summit
The 2026 Global Sustainable Tourism Summit will unite the global tourism community under the theme “People, Planet, Place, Purpose.” Across two inspiring days, the summit will explore how every corner of the visitor economy can champion the four pillars of sustainability: driving positive environmental outcomes, protecting and celebrating culture, creating meaningful socio-economic benefits, and building resilient, future-focused businesses.
Building on Ecotourism Australia’s legacy of hosting one of the world’s longest-running ecotourism conferences (formerly Global Eco), the Summit is a flagship event on the international calendar. As the peak body for eco and sustainable tourism in Australia, Ecotourism Australia brings together leading voices from across the globe – with expert speakers from the Pacific region, Australia, and beyond – to showcase world’s best practice, share actionable insights, and inspire the next era of sustainable travel.
Want a glimpse of what’s in store? Take a look back at our previous events!
Global Sustainable Tourism Summit 2024
Our inaugural Global Sustainable Tourism Summit 2024 brought together 270 delegates from across Australia and overseas to Brisbane under the theme “People, Planet, Place, Purpose.” Over three days, more than 60 expert speakers – nearly half representing ECO Certified or Sustainable Tourism Certified operators and destinations – explored how the visitor economy can deliver environmental, cultural, socio-economic, and business sustainability. The event created a powerful platform for industry leaders, government, media, and educators to connect, share insights, and shape the future of sustainable tourism.
Check out the highlights from 2024 below!
2024 Event Sustainability Initiatives
At the 2024 Global Sustainable Tourism Summit, Ecotourism Australia committed to delivering an event that was sustainable as possible, across the four pillars of environment, culture, socio-economic and management. Below is a brief overview of some of the sustainability initiatives:
- Our conference venue, Pullman Mercure Brisbane King George Square, was one of the first businesses in Australia to achieve Sustainable Tourism Certification with Ecotourism Australia and they are committed to wholistic sustainability. The conference room is accessible by lift and there was a quiet room available. There were no single use or plastic items available during the conference days, all water and food was provided with reusable glassware, crockery and cutlery.
- Conference name tags were made of recycled seed paper and cotton lanyards sourced from Terra Tag, a Sunshine Coast-based family business. Delegates are able to grow their very own herb garden by planting their seed name tag and lanyards were collected to be composted in our team-member’s worm farm!
- We limited print materials as much as possible, offering QR codes to view the program and access the virtual delegate bag. Where printing was required, we ordered from Sustainable Printing Co. which uses recycled paper and plant based inks.
- All sessions at the Summit were closed-captioned
- Where possible, our venues provided a menu that was predominately locally sourced
- Working with our Summit Sponsor Reforest, each delegate could adopt their own tree to be planted in Eumundi in the Cooroy Mountain Wildlife Corridor on World Environment Day (5 June 2024). Using the Reforest platform, attendees could also calculate their travel emissions for the event.
- Welcome to Country was delivered by Shannon Ruska of Tribal Experiences, a Brisbane based Aboriginal organisation specialising in local conference Welcome to Countries.