Key themes for tourism in 2026

David Goodger is Managing Director, EMEA, Tourism Economics. He has been instrumental in developing the global model of tourism flows and spending, which covers 185 origins and destinations, and he continues to manage regular forecast updates. He also maintains an active role in new product development and consultancy work.

David Goodger is a Director within Tourism Economics and primarily concentrates on tourism demand forecasting and market sizing. He has also taken an active role in further model development for specific purposes, with an emphasis on examining the economic contributions of particular sectors and the impact of different policies. He has conducted a groundbreaking analysis of the business travel sector for the WTTC and the US Travel Association which estimates the return on investment of corporate spending on travel and he has developed models to define destination marketing allocations.

Since joining Oxford Economics in 2000, David Goodger has been involved in a wide range of forecasting and modelling activities. He has been part of the macroeconomic forecasting and the industrial forecasting teams contributing to both regular reports and specific client studies as well as assisting in the development of detailed forecasting and simulation models.

David was educated at the University of Bristol, England, where he gained a first-class degree in Economics with Statistics; and at the London School of Economics and Political Science, England, where he graduated with an MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics.

Helen is a Lead Economist within Tourism Economics, with more than a decade of experience in economic modelling and consultancy.

She specializes in tourism forecasting, tourism economic impact analysis including Tourism Satellite Account analysis and providing bespoke scenario analysis which caters to a range of client needs. She also manages the Global Travel Service (GTS) and Global City Travel (GCT) services, which provide timely forecasts of bilateral tourism flow across 185 countries and 300 cities, as well as other core tourism indicators including overnight stays and tourism spending.

In addition to her regular forecasting work, Helen also plays a lead role in Tourism Economic’ consultancy services. Key projects that Helen has been involved in include the Oxford Economics Economic Impact Research, produced on behalf of the World Travel & Tourism Company which measures the contribution of the travel & tourism sector to the wider economy across 185 countries worldwide. Helen is also responsible for producing quarterly forecasts for the hotel industry across a range of markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia in partnership with STR. Further, Helen plays a lead role in providing ongoing support ranging across a spectrum of tourism initiatives with Qatar Tourism Authority, which includes providing forecasts of travel demand to Qatar and detailed accommodation forecasting to aid QTA in developing key policy initiatives.