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The City Destinations Alliance’s Autumn Conference, “Tourism in Transit”, which was held in Tel Aviv on October 19-22, 2022, was the opportunity for the 125+ delegates from European cities and beyond to talk about all the transitions tourism is seeing and whether these are passing trends or here to stay.

The majority of the room voted Metaverse more hype than hope, but Hannah Gutkauf from Manyone made the room reconsider think about the need for long-term planning for phygital hybrid realities ahead, while Jonathan Gomez Punzón from Málaga Tourism Board shared their advanced planning & real-time data analysis for better destination management.

CLIMATE DISTRACTED
Jeremy Smith from Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency & The Travel Foundation pointed out how easily we get distracted from real issues: WWF just published that wildlife populations have declined globally by 69% in less than 50 years.

City Destinations Alliance’s President, Petra Stušek, concluded, “The Conference explored multiple levels on how the DMOs can “Build Back Better”.

COMMUNITY RELEVANCE
The DMO must shift focus to community relevance & service, as Anthony Everett underlined from 4VI, Frank Haas, formerly from Hawaii Tourism Authority & Jack Johnson from Destinations International. Emmy Award-winner, Rondel Holder, shared how NYC & Company represents diverse communities with engaging & authentic content, while Frédérick Boutry shared a visit.brussels’ approach in inviting more inclusive tourism, engaging with LGBTQI+ communities. Nearly 100% see tourism taking climate action as a big transition, and 62% belief in the significant systemic shift towards tourism advancing EDI goals (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion). The “Tourism in Transit” Conference helped answer questions that concern every tourism organisation.

BIG TRANSITION
The conference highlighted a few key figures from the DMOs present in the room. How to successfully include stakeholders in responsible tourism manifestos on the destination… Burning questions with exciting discussions and concrete answers!”. Listening to Gerry Proctor from Engage Liverpool, Angel Diaz, Council Member of Barcelona City, & Inger-Margrethe Jensen, Rethinkers at VisitAarhus, it was crystal clear that discussions of tourism have long since taken to streets & public fora shaped by a multitude of interest holders, engaged & active citizens. Anu Syrmä shared how Helsinki Partners have worked for years to give locals a voice, while the recent Helsinki Curious initiative did a 180-degree turn by letting artists, who had never visited Helsinki, represent the city only using their knowledge of the city.

Many more insights were shared throughout the 2-day conference from other CityDNA members destinations such as Aarhus, Amsterdam, Athens, Budapest, Catalonia, Copenhagen, Germany, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Maastricht, The Hague and Valencia, but also from companies and organisations like It’s July, Kenes Group, Miles Partnership, OECD, ReD Associates, TripDoodler and Trippz as well as CityDNA’s Partners: ForwardKeys, IMEX Group, Modul University Vienna and Simpleview.

HYBRID REALITY
Jacqui Kenny, also known as The Agoraphobic Traveller, immersed attendees in dream-like images from exploring the world via Google Street View.

Sharon Landes-Fischer, CEO of Tel Aviv Global, said, “It was with great pleasure that we hosted the CityDNA 2022 Autumn Conference here in Tel Aviv.

COMMUNITIES WITHIN COMMUNITY
We explored the critical role of DMOs in climate action, where to start, and how to create support and engage stakeholders and the community. At the same time, people are navigating new technology with the metaverse and searching for the right platform to embark on the high speed for net zero journeys. Fundamental questions have been asked: what is lost in translation, what is a passing trend only and what is here to stay as a big transition? Telling great community stories must come from within the community; this requires trust & relationship-building. From riveting presentations to guided tours around the city to exhilarating parties, we enjoyed showing some of the best parts of sunny Tel Aviv. It was the first Conference organised under the new name of the association formerly known as European Cities Marketing. There will be no future to talk about if there is anything but a big, radical transition shortly. Tel Aviv cannot wait to welcome and host even more tourists from around the world here in the nonstop city. So, pack your bags lightly because, as you may have heard – we don’t do winter!” We focused on the challenges and opportunities, requirements and expectations of the future role and purpose of CVBs. The world is facing hyperinflation, global recession, the war in Europe and rising geopolitical tensions.

Is phygital the new balance of destination marketing? Through our partnership with CityDNA and participating European cities, we will continue to learn from and inspire each other. Guy Bigwood from GDS-Movement followed up with his perspective on a regenerative future.