City Destinations Alliance
The alliance of Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux and Destination Management Organisations in Europe
We are the European 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.
Moving Together
CityDNA Autumn Conference, Verona, October 19-21, 2026
Join us to explore how mobility, accessibility, data, AI and business events are reshaping city destinations. Discover how cities can respond to changing visitor flows and move forward together with greater alignment and collective purpose.
CityDNA Committees
Help Shape the Future of CityDNA:
CityDNA is launching six new standing committees, giving members a direct role in shaping the Alliance’s priorities. Bring your expertise, connect with peers across Europe and help turn shared knowledge into action over two years.
The CityDNA Tórshavn Declaration
From Shared Priorities to Action
The CityDNA Tórshavn Declaration is a collective strategic framework developed with and for members. It captures the key priorities shaping the future of Europe’s city destinations and translates them into concrete areas of action.
The Score is Not the Story
VivaCITY Whitepaper from CityDNA & Simpleview
What’s Beyond the Sustainability Score? In a time when certifications and indexes dominate the sustainability narrative, this whitepaper invites destination leaders to look deeper—beyond metrics and toward meaningful, transformative strategies.
Climate Change and the Future of Tourism
Trend Room Whitepaper
The Whitepaper written in collaboration with ETFI is based on findings from a scenario workshop that explored how the impacts of climate change will transform the travel landscape of urban tourism destinations in the long term of 5 to 10 years by means of future scenarios (2035 is taken as time horizon).
City Travel Report by CityDNA 2024-2025
A New Era of Recalibration for European City Tourism
The City Travel Report by CityDNA provides a vital perspective on the volume of urban tourism in Europe, enabling individual city destinations to chart trends and to benchmark themselves in terms of volume and other parameters, especially key source markets. It presents compelling evidence of the economic significance of contemporary urban tourism. Put simply, cities are the dominant geographical focus of European tourism, especially the lucrative (and therefore much sought after!) short break and congress and/or conventions segments.
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.
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!
By providing data, we can benchmark the performances of our destinations with bednights and in meetings statistics, 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 & essential source of information.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
CityDNA Live
![[CITYDNA SUMMER SCHOOL 🎓] 2 weeks on from the 40th CityDNA Summer School in Dijon, we are still grateful for the partners who helped make this milestone edition possible. 💛
A special thank you to our local host, Dijon Bourgogne Tourisme & Congrès, for welcoming the Summer School to Dijon and helping create such a strong setting for learning, exchange and connection.
We are also grateful to our industry partners IMEX, The Iceberg, IAPCO, HQ Mags and #SITE for their continued support of the programme and of the next generation of business events professionals.
Their involvement helps CityDNA connect emerging talent with expertise, ideas and networks from across the sector, strengthening a learning community that has now grown to more than 2,200 alumni since 1987.
Partnership has always been part of the Summer School’s DNA, and this 40th edition was no exception.
Thank you for being part of the journey. 🙏
#CityDNA #CityDNASummerSchool #BusinessEvents #Partnership #PeerLearning #VisitorEconomy](https://citydestinationsalliance.eu/wp-content/plugins/social-wall/img/placeholder.png)
[CITYDNA SUMMER SCHOOL 🎓] 2 weeks on from the 40th CityDNA Summer School in Dijon, we are still grateful for the partners who helped make this milestone edition possible. 💛
A special thank you to our local host, Dijon Bourgogne Tourisme & Congrès, for welcoming the Summer School... to Dijon and helping create such a strong setting for learning, exchange and connection.
We are also grateful to our industry partners IMEX, The Iceberg, IAPCO, HQ Mags and #SITE for their continued support of the programme and of the next generation of business events professionals.
Their involvement helps CityDNA connect emerging talent with expertise, ideas and networks from across the sector, strengthening a learning community that has now grown to more than 2,200 alumni since 1987.
Partnership has always been part of the Summer School’s DNA, and this 40th edition was no exception.
Thank you for being part of the journey. 🙏
#CityDNA #CityDNASummerSchool #BusinessEvents #Partnership #PeerLearning #VisitorEconomy
[MOVING TOGETHER 👣] 6 weeks to Verona. 1 month left to register.
The CityDNA Autumn Conference brings mobility, accessibility, data, AI, business events and destination strategy into one shared conversation.
Not just through presentations, but through workshops, small-group ...walkshops and practical exchanges designed around the challenges city destinations are working through now.
And with key conversations feeding into CityDNA’s future direction, Verona will be one of those moments where being in the room matters.
📍 Verona
🗓️ October 19-21, 2026
Registration closes October 8 → https://citydestinationsalliance.eu/event/citydna-autumn-conference-2026-verona/
#CityDNA #MovingTogether #CityDNAVerona2026 #VisitorEconomy #DestinationManagement #UrbanMobility #DataDrivenDestinations
Verona Garda Convention Bureau Destination Verona & Garda
[MOVING TOGETHER 👣] The CityDNA Autumn Conference opens in Verona on October 19, and registration is open.
This is not a sit-and-listen conference. You’ll walk the streets of a UNESCO city in hands-on walkshops, work through real destination challenges in workshops, and leave with ...practical takeaways to bring back home.
Whether leading a city DMO or working across the wider visitor economy (from accessibility and mobility to events, data, AI and sustainability) the programme is designed to connect different perspectives around shared destination challenges!
📍 Verona
🗓️ October 19-21, 2026
Register: https://citydestinationsalliance.eu/event/citydna-autumn-conference-2026-verona/
#CityDNA #MovingTogether #CityDNAVerona2026 #VisitorEconomy #DestinationManagement #UrbanMobility #DataDrivenDestinations
Verona Garda Convention Bureau Destination Verona & Garda
[MOVING TOGETHER 👣] Movement isn't only about transport.
It's about visitors moving through a city. Data moving between systems. Teams and stakeholders moving in the same direction.
At #CityDNAVerona2026, the question is: how do cities stay in motion and stay in ...alignment?
📍 Verona
🗓️ October 19-21, 2026
Register: https://citydestinationsalliance.eu/event/citydna-autumn-conference-2026-verona/
#CityDNA #MovingTogether #CityDNAVerona2026 #DestinationManagement #VisitorEconomy Verona Garda Convention Bureau Destination Verona & Garda
[CITYDNA SUMMER SCHOOL 🎓] What a way to close the 40th CityDNA Summer School in Dijon! 🎓✨
Thursday afternoon brought the week’s learning together through the final group work and Hackathon presentations, with participants turning four days of insight, exchange and collaboration ...into concrete ideas.
The presentations were assessed by a jury composed of Barbara Jamison-Woods, President of City Destinations Alliance, Leena Lassila, Director, Visitor & Talent Attraction at Helsinki Partners, and Patrick Génie, CVB Manager at Dijon Bourgogne Tourisme & Congrès.
The evening then moved to the Cellier de Clairvaux for the gala dinner and graduation ceremony, marking a fitting finale to this milestone 40th edition.
Certificates were awarded, achievements celebrated and, during the gala, the Purple Team was announced as the winning Hackathon group. 💜
A special thank you goes to Dijon Bourgogne Tourisme & Congrès for the warm welcome and the care put into hosting and organising this edition.
We are also deeply grateful to the Faculty members, who generously volunteered their time, expertise and energy throughout the week, and to the students, who remain the reason this programme has continued to thrive since 1987.
With more than 2,200 alumni across Europe and beyond, the Summer School community is a powerful reminder of the long-term value of peer learning, professional development and connection.
From the first introductions on Monday to the final presentations on Thursday, this edition once again captured the spirit of the CityDNA Summer School: building knowledge, confidence and lasting relationships across the business events community.
A proud celebration of 40 editions of peer learning, professional development and community.
#CityDNA #CityDNASummerSchool #BusinessEvents #PeerLearning #MeetingsIndustry #VisitorEconomy
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[CITYDNA SUMMER SCHOOL 🎓] Thursday morning looked ahead to the future of the meetings industry, while keeping people, purpose and collaboration at the centre.
Jonathan Easton opened the day with “Navigating the Tech & AI Revolution”, exploring how AI can support data-driven ...creativity, content capture, impact measurement and more intentional event design. From tools such as Snapsight and Impact AIQ to questions around privacy, ethics and the EU AI Act, the session underlined an important point: technology is most valuable when it helps organisations understand their objectives and act on them more effectively.
The conversation then shifted into an interactive World Café, with participants rotating between six challenges shaping the industry: data tracking, attracting talent, culture and communication, smooth event operations, greener catering, and the question of who needs to be around the table to maximise local impact.
From AI to human exchange, the morning reinforced the same principle: progress comes from asking better questions, sharing perspectives and connecting the right people and tools.
#CityDNA #CityDNASummerSchool #BusinessEvents #ArtificialIntelligence #EventInnovation #VisitorEconomy #DestinationManagement
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[CITYDNA SUMMER SCHOOL 🎓] Wednesday afternoon took learning beyond the classroom and into the destination itself.
Students visited the Palais des Congrès and Auditorium, getting a closer look at the infrastructure behind Dijon’s business events offer and the practical realities of ...hosting congresses and large-scale events.
The afternoon then continued at the Jardins du Département, where the group moved into an interactive workshop and Q&A format, building on the morning’s sessions around associations, corporate clients and PCOs.
It was a valuable shift from theory to practice: seeing how venues, destination partners and event professionals connect to create the conditions for successful events.
Another reminder that understanding the meetings industry means understanding the full ecosystem behind it: from strategy and stakeholder collaboration to the spaces where experiences are ultimately delivered.
#CityDNA #CityDNASummerSchool #BusinessEvents #DestinationManagement #VisitorEconomy #EventProfs