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Barry Diller spoke about the role of pop culture in travel during Travel + Leisure‘s annual World’s Best Summit
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He highlighted how events like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and the 2026 FIFA World Cup drive tourism in a conversation with T+L’s Jacqueline Gifford
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Diller also reflected on the travel industry’s resilience after crises like 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic
Barry Diller reflected on significant pop culture moments and the impact they’re currently having on travel at Travel + Leisure’s annual World’s Best Summit on Tuesday, July 14
The Chairman and Senior Executive of Expedia Group and People Incorporated (People Inc. is a wholly owned operating business and subsidiary of People Incorporated) sat down with T+L Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Gifford to discuss the future of travel and how technology and media continue to shape it.
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After reflecting on the most recent season of HBO Max’s hit series The White Lotus and how it sparked a surge in tourism to Thailand, the pair then touched upon sporting events like the Olympics and the 2026 FIFA World Cup that are also driving travel due to the “sense of community” they create.
“The amazing thing about the World Cup is, if you asked people four, five, six months ago, they would’ve said, ‘This is a disaster. They’ve overpriced it, it’s very hard to get to, nobody cares about it,’ et cetera,” Diller began. “And then once it started, week by week, the interest kept growing and growing. And by the final on Sunday, everybody’s going to be connected to it.”
Along with the FIFA World Cup Final — which is taking place July 19 in East Rutherford, N.J. — Diller and Gifford discussed other pop culture moments, like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and its impact on the travel industry.
“In the cities that are having the game, just like it was with Taylor Swift . . . people go to those cities to be around that event. And that is a really powerful thing,” Diller added.
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He then highlighted the influence Swift’s record-breaking tour had on the economy and tourism as a whole. The Eras Tour, which ran from March 2023 to December 2024, brought in a stunning $10 billion in economic impact in the U.S., according to a 2023 report from CNN, which cited the U.S. Travel Association
“The amount of commerce it created in every city she went to was extraordinary, and those are obviously travelers. Most were travelers,” Diller said
Diller also spoke about what it was like to live through devastating events that crippled the travel industry, from 9/11 to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how each time, travel bounced back.
While reflecting on buying Expedia from Microsoft in the early 2000s, Diller recalled how 9/11 occurred three weeks after his company closed the deal.
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“And of course, travel shut down all over the world. We had a clause — like everybody has in these agreements when you buy something — a material adverse change. This was definitely an adverse change. And so everybody on my side said, ‘We can’t buy this company now. I mean, who knows what’s gonna happen? Who knows what’s next?’ “
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Diller recalled struggling during that period of uncertainty and feeling the pressure to make a decision. Then someone offered an insight that still resonates with him today
“One day we were sitting around, and someone in the room said, ‘If there’s life, there’s travel.’ And I said, ‘Done. We’re closing.’ And so we bought it. And of course, like it always did, and I think it always will until we’re in the final simulation, travel came back, booming, as it does,” Diller concluded
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Travel + Leisure’s third annual World’s Best Summit takes place on Tuesday, July 14 and Wednesday, July 15, with panels including guests Regina King, Antoni Porowski and Richard E. Grant
Read the original article on People
