Some reflections from EHL Lausanne (and a few uncomfortable questions)

Back from two intense days in Lausanne, having attended the EHL HumanX Summit 2026, I'm carrying home a lot of ideas, reflections and inspiration. Some trips leave you with nothing but memories; others open up questions, perspectives and new ways of looking at the future of our industry. This experience at EHL Hospitality Business School was exactly that.

Stepping into EHL is already a lesson in hospitality. The first impression you get when you walk onto the EHL campus is almost startling. More than a school, it feels like a five-star luxury resort. Everything communicates excellence: the spaces, the organisation, the design, the services, the people. EHL is not simply a management school. It is an educational ecosystem where hospitality is lived every single day, in every detail. For years it has been considered one of the best hotel management schools in the world, surpassing even the historic Cornell University in international industry rankings.

The campus breathes an extraordinary atmosphere. Students from more than 180 countries coexist in an environment that is international, elegant and highly professional. All in uniform until the evening, impeccable in their manners, their style and their conduct. You only need to watch how they move between classrooms, restaurants and communal spaces to understand that education here does not come only from books, but above all from a culture of excellence that is lived daily.

The facilities are impressive: technologically advanced lecture rooms, a gym, a swimming pool, accommodation that looks like rooms in a high-end hotel, several teaching restaurants and even a Michelin-starred one. Everything is tended to the last detail. You immediately sense that the school is run with the same managerial mindset as a major international company. The annual fees are certainly very high, but it is immediately clear that students who leave EHL have enormous professional opportunities ahead of them. The major hotel chains, luxury groups and even the world of finance compete to secure the best talent trained here. Just visiting this campus would be worth the trip.

Technology and the human factor: the heart of a summit that was rich in content and visions for the future of hospitality. One of the central themes was the relationship between technology and the human being in the hospitality sector. Particularly interesting was the speech by Jason Silva, which offered a deep reflection on the impact of artificial intelligence, new technologies and innovation on human experiences — a talk that went well beyond the purely technological, bringing creativity, emotion and the value of experience back to centre stage.

Over those two days I had the chance to exchange views with CEOs of hotel chains, entrepreneurs, and experts in wellness, luxury, technology and management. Events like this represent an extraordinary opportunity for international networking, made even more enjoyable by the closing dinner and the atmosphere of open, informal dialogue among professionals from across Europe.

A reflection on Italy that should give us pause. During the long journey back, together with my two colleagues, we found ourselves reflecting on something that had struck us deeply: we were practically the only Italian tourism operators present among more than 700 international participants. Apart from the presence of Mirko Lalli and Simone Puorto as speakers, and of Carlo Fontana, Italian representation was almost non-existent. And this is where an important reflection begins.

The Italian tourism system, despite being rich in extraordinary excellence, is far too often absent from major international contexts. At times we risk being self-congratulatory yet provincial — focused on our domestic market and barely present in the places where visions, relationships and global innovation are being built. Is it really possible that at an event of this level, dedicated to the future of hospitality, there were almost no other Italian operators?

A further reflection concerns education. Switzerland manages to have three hotel management schools among the best in the world. Italy, by contrast, still struggles to build a genuine international centre of excellence dedicated to managerial training in tourism and hospitality.

And yet we are talking about a country with over 33,000 hotel businesses and thousands more tourism enterprises. How is it possible that in decades we have not managed to create a true international hospitality management school capable of attracting talent from around the world? How can we expect to train the tourism managers of the future without seriously investing in managerial culture, innovation and high-level education? Without this investment we risk remaining simply "a beautiful country" that the world loves to visit, but with businesses that find it increasingly difficult to innovate, grow and find motivated, well-prepared young professionals.

The limits of the Italian system. Perhaps one of the main problems is that in Italy territorial, parochial and political logics still prevail far too often. Every region, every association, every body wants to create its own school, its own project, its own training centre — often with poorly competent governance and an enormous dispersal of financial resources. Meanwhile, dozens of young Italians choose to go abroad, investing over 50,000 euros a year to attend Swiss schools like EHL. And Switzerland, naturally, says thank you.

I return from Lausanne with enthusiasm, inspiration and many questions. But perhaps that is precisely the greatest value of experiences like this: forcing us to look beyond our borders, step out of our habits and measure ourselves against realities that are already building the future of tourism and hospitality. The hospitality sector is changing rapidly. Technology, sustainability, wellbeing, personalisation and human experience will become ever more central.

The question is simple: does Italy want to be a protagonist of this change, or would it rather settle for watching what everyone else is doing?

Because our country has every potential to be a world leader — not only in beauty and welcome, but in education, innovation and managerial culture in tourism.