City Destinations Alliance

The alliance of Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux and City Marketing Organisations in Europe

We are the knowledge sharing alliance for cities and urban regions. While working on the DNA of our cities, we are committed to a sustainable, inclusive and responsible visitor economy that benefits people, planet and prosperity. 

We are much more than a network. We want to publicly advocate for our common goals while still learning from each other.  

Our vision is for all cities in Europe to flourish as great places to live, work, meet and explore. As a community of DMO professionals, our promise to each other is to always be curious and forward-thinking, share our inspiration and never stop learning. 

Highlights

The reference for Leisure, Meetings Industry and City Marketing in Europe.

CityDNA International Conference & General Assembly

#TheElephantInTheRoom

How sustainable can a meeting be if you have to fly to get there? What can destinations do to deliver better visitor experiences if the destination is out of hand(s)? Is growth becoming the mammoth of tourism – and is the idea of quality tourism the white elephant of destination management?
Join us in for the City Destinations Alliance “The Elephant in The Room” International Conference & General Assembly in Sofia, April 19-22, 2023 – and bring your own elephant too!

Data Space for Tourism

Preparatory Actions

Modul University, the European Travel Commission (ETC), City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA), and ForwardKeys have joined forces to set the foundation for the development of a secure and trusted Data Space for Tourism (DSFT). The project is funded by the EU and aims to enable all European tourism stakeholders to share and access relevant data when required.

Exploring the Emerging Role of the Place Making and Marketing Organisation

CityDNA & TOPOSOPHY Report

CityDNA and TOPOSOPHY released a ground-breaking report on the role of Place Making and Marketing Organizations (PMMOs) in shaping the future of European cities. As we navigate an increasingly complex world, the report argues that PMMOs have a crucial role to play in helping cities transition towards holistic place making and marketing, with a focus on people rather than place.

Featured Events

#CityDNA events provide members with information, contacts and business leads they cannot afford to miss out on.

Members know best…

  • The CityDNA Knowledge Groups play a strategic role in helping us develop new ideas, products, insights and solutions in the areas of City Cards, Marketing & Communication, Meetings Industry, Research & Insights, Sustainability, Tourist Information Centres or Trends. They are incubators of new ideas and an important source of insights and expertise.
    Yvonne Coulin
    CEO | Nuremberg Convention and Tourist Office
  • When it comes to looking at the future, the constantly evolving CityDNA Summer School is a unique opportunity for young professionals just entering the Meetings Industry to spend three days with some of the biggest names in our business, to understand the nature of the Meetings Industry, and acquire practical marketing skills. An unforgettable career-defining experience!
    Romana Vlašić
    Head of Convention Bureau and International Markets Development | Dubrovnik Tourist Board
  • By providing data, we can benchmark the performance of our destinations regarding the visitor economy, as well as the financing and spending structures of our organisations. For the 50% of our members who do not have their own research departments, City Destinations Alliance can provide a unique and essential source of information.
    Magnus Hessbo
    Marketing Manager, Business Intelligence | Visit Stockholm
  • City Destinations Alliance knows that we, as members, have specific interests and provides us with the opportunity to have our own platforms, events and forums. CityDNA also helps us members to align our own strategic agenda with whatever demands, challenges and opportunities tomorrow will bring.
    Davy Jansegers
    Head of Sales & Promotion | Lausanne Tourism & Convention Bureau
  • Every year, we have more and more City Cards specialists participating in the City Cards Expert Meeting and strengthening the network. Through best practices and knowledge exchange, these meetings allow CityDNA member destinations to fine-tune their City Cards product, the associated communication and sales strategy, with the goal of managing the destination in a sustainable way.
    Gianluca Camaggio
    Sales Manager | Turisme de Barcelona
  • City Destinations Alliance is a member organisation. It is with us members and by the members. Through its strategy, CityDNA explores a more sustainable tomorrow together with a great purpose and appetite for experimenting in the visitor economy that contributes to a better life in the city. This knowledge is essential in my daily job!
    Dieter Hardt-Stremayr
    CEO | Graz Tourismus
  • Knowledge exchange and best practices’ sessions are core activities in City Destinations Alliance: from meetings statistics to legacy or ambassador programmes, we are always kept up to date by the best examples in Europe and from around the world.
    Bettina Reventlow-Mourier
    Deputy Convention Director | Wonderful Copenhagen
  • City Destinations Alliance is the only organisation to gather all CEOs of European destinations to discuss the latest market trends and new developments in policy, strategy and operations. But more important: it gives me a network of persons with whom I share challenges and endeavours, be it sustainability challenges, citizens support or how to measure the broader pros and cons of tourism. In short: This meeting is on the very top of my list.
    Corinne Menegaux
    CEO | Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris

CityDNA Live

[THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM 🐘] Today is the last day to benefit from the early birds fees when registering for the City Destinations Alliance “The Elephant in The Room” International Conference & General Assembly that will be held in Visit Sofia, April 19-22, 2023.

From big ...time-sensitive elephants like "moving towards net zero by 2050" and "addressing the Dumbo of flying", to familiar yet difficult elephants of "balancing stakeholder expectations with overall destination priorities", or even "getting the elephant out of the corner office and into the modern workplace" – the fact of the matter is that all elephants can rock the boat of familiarity, some are too complex or uncomfortable to address, and others we lack the words or understanding to bring out in the open.

Join us in and bring your own elephant too!
Register now: https://buff.ly/3IO4Soz
#CityDNA #TheElephantInTheRoom

🐘 Today is the last day to benefit from the early birds fees when registering for the #CityDNA #TheElephantInTheRoom Intl Conference & General Assembly that will be held in #Sofia, April 19-22, 2023.
Join us in and bring your own elephant!
Register: https://buff.ly/3IO4Soz

[ONLINE SCENARIO WORKSHOP 💻] Yesterday the Trend Room Knowledge Group held its very first Online Scenario Workshop on the Metaverse for our CityDNA members!
This unique online workshop was prepared and moderated by Bernadett Papp and Albert Postma, Scenario planners at ETFI (European Tourism... Futures Institute). Technologies and Metaverse-expert, Hannah Gutkauf, introduced the workshop that was attended by 20 CityDNA members.
#CityDNA #metaverse

💻 Yesterday the Trend Room Knowledge Group held its very 1st Online Scenario Workshop on the #Metaverse for CityDNA members!
The event attended by 20 #CityDNA members was introduced by Hannah Gutkauf @Manyone_design and was prepared & moderated by Bernadett Papp & @ETFI_APostma.

[CITYDNA SUMMER SCHOOL 🎓] Hybrid Events - Lessons of the Pandemic
"What is the reason for us to do an event? And there are good reasons: we want to sale or we want to educate. [...] We have always done this event for this audience so we are now doing it again. Now, the pandemic has ...forced us to rethink that, and also explore the abilities of digital and they are really amazing if done right. Of course you can reach many many more people with digital than you can do in a physical environment. However, it is super difficult to engage with these people...".
Don't miss the 37th Edition that will be held in Visit Gdansk on August 26-30, 2023: registration opens spring 2023!
#eventprofs #CityDNA #CityDNASummerSchool
Video by The Iceberg

🎓 Hybrid Events - Lessons of the Pandemic:
The 37th Edition of the #CityDNASummerSchool will be held in @visitgdansk_com on August 26-30, 2023!
#eventprofs #CityDNA
Video by @Iceberg_Curator

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CityDNA Summer School Report - Hybrid Events - Lessons of the Pandemic

buff.ly

[DATA SPACE FOR TOURISM 🌐📡] Yesterday, 12 selected professionals from DMOs, universities, private companies, tourism consultants as well as research institutions met at Modul University Vienna to tackle the setting of the foundation for the development of a secure and trusted Data Space for ...Tourism.
Through collaborative and participatory methods, participants dealt with current data spaces reality and built together a model of their vision regarding a data space for tourism. They also mapped the prevalent barriers to this project and looked at how to establish sustainable, multi-stakeholder governance mechanisms and data sharing business models for the #DSFT.
Thank you to all participants for contributing to this valuable project!

DSFT Consortium Partners: City Destinations Alliance, European Travel Commission, ForwardKeys & Modul University Vienna
This project is funded by the EU.

🌐📡 Yesterday, 12 selected professionals met in Vienna to tackle the setting of the foundation for the development of a secure & trusted Data Space for Tourism. #DSFT
Thanks to all participants! @moduluniversity @citydna_eu @ETC_Corporate @ForwardKeys @EU_Commission @dsftproject