Tourism conference in the middle of a global pandemic?

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 a living laboratory of ideas – part festival, part think tank, part family reunion.

How do you design and run a conference in the middle of a global pandemic? That was the challenge that Group NAO faced during the conceptualisation and design of the 2021 Autumn Conference for City Destinations Alliance. The result was an online event featuring over 80 contributors spanning disciplines such as urban design, behavioural science, gaming, biomimicry, and education – creating fresh insights and challenging the common approach of discussing tourism as an isolated phenomenon.

"This is Not a Tourism Conference" went against the current of traditional industry events. Framed deliberately not as a tourism conference, the event explored tourism’s intersections with society, economy, and ecology, offering participants a rare space to ask difficult questions and reimagine the status quo. It called for a shift from promotion to purpose, urging destinations to prioritise local well-being, climate action, and inclusive community engagement over visitor volume, while highlighting the need for new skills, new metrics, and a mindset rooted in learning and adaptability.