Tourism trends for Australian destinations in 2026 are shifting toward wellness travel, dark sky experiences, AI-powered planning, skip-gen travel and niche sports tourism. Sparrowly Group’s Beth Burns explores how destinations can apply these trends strategically within Destination Management Planning, leveraging what’s authentic without losing local identity or community value.

Cultural tourism and diversification can help cultural institutions stay sustainable without losing their identity. With the sector growing faster than total tourism in Australia, Sparrowly Group’s Justine Sinclair shares practical steps to balance innovation, financial resilience and authenticity - ensuring cultural spaces remain vibrant, thought-provoking and true to their core purpose.

Sensory tourism and experience design connect sight, touch, taste, sound and smell to create deeper visitor engagement. Sparrowly Group’s Morgan Thorn explores how everyday activities and surroundings can be transformed into memorable sensory experiences - helping destinations, businesses, and communities craft moments that truly resonate with visitors and stay long after they leave.

How many people would compare the toilets that we experience in public spaces to the toilet we experience in our own homes? As Place Makers and destination creators, when extending our hospitality, we should definitely be considering the impression that our public toilets are communicating to our residents and visitors. Toilets are a big deal. More than ever before.

Jackie Hicks explores dark tourism. Dark tourism isn’t a new trend, but it can be misunderstood. Following the release of HBO’s new show Chernobyl, dark tourism is at the forefront of everyones minds. Learn more about this tourism trend.

Sparrowly Group Founder and Managing Director, Giovanna Lever shares why all destinations and the hospitality industry should look to Tasmania and learn.