Our one-and-a-half-day event provides you with a unique opportunity to meet and network with European colleagues managing city cards schemes, to share knowledge and insights to stay ahead of the latest market trends & anticipate customers’ needs, and to grow your business in a sustainable way as well as strengthen your professional expertise.
An industry built on the power of human relationships is confronting machine-produced site recommendations. What if AI gets the answer wrong? A meeting destination used to have a fairly good idea of what a planner was considering. Now, AI is replacing that first website visit or email to a salesperson. From Skift Meetings…
Zambia makes the connection between its planned healthcare infrastructure investment and opportunities to develop conference facilities, attract international visitors and establish a wider medical and tourism destination — demonstrating how major healthcare projects can also create opportunities for meetings, business events and destination development. From Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, Government of Zambia…
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau has designated six additional locations as MICE Cities, expanding its network for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions to 16 destinations. The new destinations are Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani, Rayong, Hua Hin–Cha-am, Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat, extending the programme across northern, northeastern, eastern and southern Thailand. From M&C/ASIA…
For a decade, leading on destination sustainability meant having a strategy. In 2026, it means proving what the strategy achieved. This report sets out what changed across the GDS-Index this year: where destinations are moving fastest, where progress has stalled, and why leadership in destination sustainability no longer sits where it used to.
City Destinations Alliance has concluded the 40th edition of its CityDNA Summer School in Dijon. Taking place in August, the milestone edition welcomed 49 students from 16 countries across Europe. Since 1987, more than 2,200 business events professionals have taken part in the programme, building knowledge, confidence and connections at the start of their careers.
European city tourism kept climbing in 2025, but the headline figure only tells part of the story. The Central message of CityDNA’s report: Europe’s city destinations are moving from a volume race to a value-and-resilience race. Success is increasingly measured by what visitor economies deliver for residents, businesses, the environment, and the cities themselves.
On September 16, 2026, Destinations International (DI), the world’s leading association representing destination organizations and convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), will bring together destination leaders, public officials, policy experts and industry partners for its second global Virtual Advocacy Day, a must-attend global program designed to help destination professionals navigate this increasingly complex environment.
COO of Business Events Adelaide Tony Saulters explains how his bureau focuses on the world-class specialisations in his destination when determining which events to target, assessing their potential importance not just on delegate numbers and expenditure, but on their capacity to drive inward investment and talent acquisition, and the extent to which they can facilitate…
Y.T. Anderson, of Visit Northern Finland & Oulu Convention Bureau, reflects on City DNA’s 40th Summer School, designed for newcomers to business events. He shares insights into the changing models of destination leadership, the shift from bednight-driven metrics to societal impact, and the growing influence of the new generation of future leaders in our sector.
Destination Canada’s Virginie De Visscher calls for the wider industry to adopt the lessons from the first three years of their unique study into international event impact and legacy. The biggest surprise in the research: the power of inclusion and diversity during planning, creating and delivering events. From Conference & Meetings World…
Dubai is taking a strategic approach to maintaining its position as a leading business events destination amid regional uncertainty and risk. Flexibility, long-term relationships and trust are central to the strategy, with two venues, adaptable planning and unlimited date changes offering organisers greater reassurance and the ability to respond as circumstances evolve. From CMW…
Website: View website
Alyson Robb is a public relations specialist with over 20 years of experience in the public and private sector. Alyson has worked for different members of government, both at the federal and provincial level, providing communications and strategic political advice. She is also successful in creating positive working relationships with various external partners. Currently, Alyson…
Ihor Chava from Kyiv School of Economics argues that the primary purpose of place branding is not to shape a new image for a destination, but to create a space where all place stakeholders can align themselves around a shared vision, agree on the highest priorities and collectively nurture civic pride. From CityNationPlace…
Stay connected to the latest destination organization insights, trends, and industry updates from Destinations International with newsletters that deliver timely research, thought leadership, and community news to help you stay informed and inspired. Select the newsletters you’d like to receive and explore the topics most relevant to you.
GCB Managing Director Schultze argues that while the world of business events has access to more data than ever before, and destination and venue information is widely available, the real value emerges only when different data sources are connected and placed into a meaningful context. Schultze outlines what Germany is doing to illuminate these connections.
Anthony Cassidy from Manchester Convention Bureau dissects the process of identifying targets, building ambassador capacity and bidding teams, and establishing trust with decision-makers in targeted organisations and events – a useful guide for destinations developing a bidding strategy linked to their economic development strategy, or looking to compare and benchmark their approach with others.
642 delegates from 177 cities across 12 countries attended the 5th International Placemaking Week in June in Detroit. Experiential learning was at the centre of the educational programme, with opportunities to view and understand regenerative and resilient placemaking initiatives located across the city, ensuring extensive hands-on and tacit knowledge exchanges as well as formal learning.
Why does The Iceberg consider the just-released IMEX White Paper, “Place Leadership and the Business Events Sector”, to be so important? In almost four decades of monitoring and supporting this sector, The Iceberg Curator, Martin Sirk, has reviewed hundreds of research reports, policy documents, and thought-leadership papers, yet he notes that “few match this paper’s…
Speaking at this year’s Place Leaders Forum at IMEX Frankfurt, future of cities expert Prof. Greg Clark articulates the potential for business events to fulfil a pivotal role within destinations’ strategic thinking, thanks to the emergence of new competitive realities as we enter an era where the Innovation Economy interacts with the Experience Economy. Our…
Destinations International’s President & CEO Don Welsh shares his personal business philosophy and his views on the future role of convention bureaux or DMOs. Leaders of these organisations will need to evolve into “alternative mayors”, ringmasters of the complex institutional relationships that make up modern place leadership in destinations large and small. From GatheringPoint.news…
Powered by 