Defying the Gravity of Impossible in Urban Tourism

The visitor economy is a fast-changing landscape. So why would we keep talking about it in the same, old way? Over nearly a decade, Group NAO has worked in close partnership with City Destinations Alliance (formerly European Cities Marketing) to conceptualise, program and moderate a series of international conferences in innovative formats like living laboratory of ideas - part festival, part think tank, part family reunion.

“When pigs fly” has long been a synonym for the wildly improbable. In October 2024, they took flight in Bruges as the City Destinations Alliance Conference brought together destination leaders to confront tourism’s most wicked challenges with seemingly impossible solutions. Under the bold theme “Let Pigs Fly: Defying the Gravity of Impossible in Urban Tourism,” the event invited over 270 participants to imagine and implement a more creative, collaborative and regenerative future for the visitor economy. Hosted in the historic city of Bruges, the GDS-Forum & CityDNA Autumn Conference 2024 gathered over 270 tourism professionals from across 125 destinations and organisations for a bold exploration of urban tourism’s future. By linking strategic content with humour and hands-on experimentation, the event achieved not just strong engagement, but demonstrated that even the most "impossible" ideas can take flight with the right design and mindset.