How Detroit Tourism Finally Caught Up to the Hype | Live From IPW 2026

Welcome to a special IPW 2026 series of View From Afar. In this episode, recorded live from the conference floor, Visit Detroit⁠⁠ president and CEO ⁠⁠Claude Molinari⁠⁠ sits down with Afar editorial director Billie Cohen for one of our most energizing travel industry interviews yet: a look at how Detroit tourism finally caught up to the reality of a city that has quietly transformed. Claude has led Visit Detroit since 2021, after a decade running Huntington Place, the city's convention center. He is the person who brought the NFL Draft to town in 2024, and he makes the case that Detroit is not staging a comeback so much as becoming something entirely new. In this episode, Claude and Billie discuss: Why Detroit tourism is riding a genuine shift rather than another comeback story, from five new skyscrapers to three straight years of population growth The number-one Riverwalk in the country, a $30 million renovation, and the stretch from Belle Isle to the Ambassador Bridge How Michigan Central Station went from abandoned to the epicenter of autonomous vehicles, and why Detroit is the only UNESCO City of Design in the United States The architecture worth the trip, from the Guardian Building to a fedora from Henry the Hatter How Detroit is handling a roughly 30 percent drop in Canadian visitation while still growing overall The Juventus jersey partnership that put Visit Detroit in front of 500 million soccer fans and drove website traffic up 400 percent from Europe Of course we start with the only debate that matters, which pizza is truly the best This is one in a series of travel industry interviews and tourism experts interviews recorded live at IPW 2026, part of View From Afar's ongoing look at travel trends 2026, travel marketing strategies, and the destination management behind a city on the rise. For a fresh read on Detroit tourism ahead of the Final Four and IPW 2028, it is a front-row conversation with one of the hospitality industry leaders shaping the future of travel. Chapters 0:00 Welcome to Detroit, live from IPW 2:00 The great pizza debate 4:00 Not a comeback, a complete change 6:00 The Riverwalk, Michigan Central, and a UNESCO city of design 8:00 A Canadian dip, a bigger budget, and the first-ever convention bureau 10:00 The Juventus jersey that reached 500 million fans 12:00 Eastern Market, new hotels, and an afternoon at the library Resources: ⁠Visit Detroit⁠ ⁠Detroit Riverwalk⁠ ⁠Michigan Central Station⁠ ⁠Henry Ford Museum⁠ at Greenfield Village ⁠Eastern Market⁠ ⁠Detroit Institute of Arts⁠ ⁠Buddy's Pizza⁠ ⁠Afar guide to Detroit⁠ Stay Connected Subscribe to View From Afar to catch all our IPW 2026 episodes this week. Follow @AfarMedia on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ for behind-the-scenes IPW content. ⁠⁠Sign up⁠⁠ for our travel industry newsletter, Afar Advisor. Rate and review the show to help other travel professionals discover these insights. Explore our other podcasts, ⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Unpacked⁠⁠. This IPW 2026 special series was recorded live. View From Afar is a production of Afar Media and a part of Airwave Media's podcast network (email ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast). The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Michelle Baran and Billie Cohen. Music composition from Epidemic Sound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices