In 2026, the world will turn its eyes toward North America, for a month, the FIFA World Cup will become more than a global sporting competition – it will be a defining measure of how cities, nations, and industries craft human experience at scale.
The experience before the arrival
Across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, millions of travelers will arrive not only to see a game but to live a story. They will bring expectations formed by past travels, social media, and the promise that the world’s most celebrated event will surpass them all.
The question is not whether cities are ready to host; most are well into preparations for security, transportation, and stadium readiness. The question is whether visitors will leave believing they’ve experienced something extraordinary—something that defines their impression of a city and compels them to return.
The World Cup is less about the matches and more about movement: the flows of people, ideas, and emotion that ripple through a city when the world arrives all at once. It is a moment when the tourist experience becomes the city’s most valuable export—and the foundation of its long-term economic legacy.
The hidden economy of emotion
1. The driving force
Tourism is often discussed in numbers—room nights, arrivals, visitor spending—but the driving force behind those figures is emotion. The tourist economy begins long before arrival and extends long after departure. The feeling of safety, the ease of navigation, the warmth of interaction, and the authenticity of experience all determine whether a city becomes a destination worth revisiting or merely a point on a map.
2. Civic currency
During large-scale events, emotional economy becomes civic currency. Each positive moment—a smile from a volunteer, a clear transit map, a clean public space—translates into measurable fiscal return. Visitors spend more when they feel welcome, confident, and connected.
Cities that succeed in optimizing that experience outperform those that focus solely on logistics. The aim, then, is not to control the tourist journey, but to curate it. Every city has a chance to become the face of global hospitality, and each traveler, in turn, becomes an ambassador for the city that treated them well.
The timing for readiness is not arbitrary. As the calendar nears the end of the year, most cities find themselves in the STRATCON 5 period—a phase defined by strategic alignment, fiscal planning, and inter-agency coordination. It is the most critical phase to establish visibility, define objectives, and synchronize communications.
STRATCON 5 occurs roughly ten to three months before a major event. It is when budgets close, contracts finalize, and momentum begins. The reason this period “packs the most punch” fiscally is simple: money not yet committed is opportunity waiting to be optimized. Every investment made in STRATCON 5—whether in wayfinding, crowd flow, sustainability, or service design—multiplies its impact later. By the time a city reaches STRATCON 3, most financial decisions are fixed, and only refinements remain.
The closing months of the fiscal year offer a rare alignment between planning and economic opportunity. Cities that engage during this window can shape their narratives, set visitor expectations, and activate systems that make spending feel effortless.
'Timing, in other words, is the architecture of success.'
Tourism as a system of trust
To understand how a city experiences the World Cup, it helps to see it not as a collection of districts and venues, but as an interconnected network of trust. Travelers enter an environment they do not fully know, relying on the city to guide them—physically, emotionally, and logistically—through their stay.
Trust is earned through consistency. A tourist who lands at the airport and finds intuitive wayfinding, reliable transport, and courteous staff arrives at their hotel already inclined to enjoy the city. Small efficiencies reinforce the idea that the destination values its guests. This is not a matter of luxury but of reliability—of every system performing exactly as promised.
Trust also extends to safety. In today’s climate of global mobility, travelers weigh their destinations not only by beauty or culture but by how safe they feel. Visible coordination among agencies, clear emergency protocols, and transparent communication all reassure visitors that the city is prepared. In this sense, safety is not merely a responsibility—it is part of the experience.
From Readiness to Resonance
A visitor’s memory of a city often crystallizes in the smallest moments: the ease of getting a late-night meal after a match, the warmth of local volunteers, the music that spills into public plazas, or the lights reflecting on a waterfront promenade. These are not random experiences—they are engineered intersections between planning and personality.
Readiness becomes resonance when a city aligns its infrastructure, culture, and communication around one goal: to make every guest feel seen. The essence of modern tourism is personalization—not on an individual level, but through civic empathy. A city that anticipates needs, minimizes friction, and amplifies its unique character transforms every tourist into a storyteller.
Read the full story here
Authors:
Bryan Younge, Managing Partner
byounge@horwathhtl.com
Toll free +1-888-800-7258
+1-213-816-4485
Chicago
Matko Marohnić, Partner
mmarohnic@horwathhtl.com
+385 1 4877 200
+385 99 627 5095
Zagreb
