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By Taylor Anthony
WKBW
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WKBW) — Niagara Falls is in the global tourism spotlight, with international travel leaders meeting for the 2026 IITA summit.
The event comes as foreign travel to the US is down and Canadian visits to New York have dropped, raising questions about what the summit could mean for the region. Lisa Simon, the executive director of the International Inbound Travel Association, says the top two things contributing to that decline are the current geopolitical situation and affordability.
"It's not going to turn around immediately," Simon said. "And we have some work to do, but that's why we're here to, you know, collectively talk about that and talk about solutions and figure out what we can do as a community and as an industry to make that happen."
“We are visited by over 100 countries year round, and so that business is very impactful to a destination," President and CEO of Destination Niagara, John Percy, said. "An international traveler spends sometimes three times more than a domestic customer, so having international visitors, they stay longer, spend more, and they're a huge impact to a destination."
Destination Niagara leaders say attracting more international visitors could mean bigger returns for local businesses, especially as tourism spending in Niagara County has more than doubled over the last decade.
The summit is bringing delegates from countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, with organizers hoping the conversation started here will lead to more visitors, more jobs, and a stronger year-round tourism economy.
