Recent industry efforts, like DMOcracy, have highlighted the important role technology can play in cultivating a participatory approach to tourism governance and development. Cornell University's O'Shannon Burns explores how smart city innovations can play a vital role in ensuring a more sustainable future for tourism.

Here are five of our top takeaways from the conversation at City Nation Place Global and UK, providing a top-line summary of the leading trends shaping place branding, destination marketing, and economic development around the world.

With the COP27 climate conference in Egypt shining a light on the climate emergency this month, now seems an appropriate time to reflect on what DMOs can do to build their resiliency and secure their future through climate action.

Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia is, coincidentally, shaped like a banana. It’s also a hub for creative and digital industries, and Tourismus NRW e.V. have just launched a new strategy to reposition the region internationally. We caught up with Heike Döll-König, CEO of Tourismus NRW e.V. to discover what the impetus was for the strategy and how they’re moving forwards as a region.

The de Bois report set out 12 recommendations to improve the DMO landscape in England – and the UK government has recently published their response, accepting the majority of Nick de Bois’ recommendations. Ahead of City Nation Place UK, we reached out to Patricia Yates, CEO of VisitBritain/VisitEngland, to understand what the broader impact will be across England following these decisions.

Vancouver Island recently announced that they are transforming their tourism marketing organisation into a social enterprise. We caught up with Anthony Everett, CEO at 4VI, to discover what prompted the change and how they’re navigating the challenges along the way.

How is the world of travel and tourism changing? Before she joins us as one of the City Nation Place Awards judges, Gloria Loree, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer for Destination Canada, outlines how a loyalty programme created the space to re-engage prospective travellers in the country, how Destination Canada are collaborating with their Indigenous Tourism partners, and a few of her personal predictions for the future.

It is easy to make a strong case for why DMOs must lead the charge for climate action in this decade and beyond. However, it’s fair to say that, aside from some notable front-runners, DMOs are still learning what it takes to demonstrate leadership and meaningful action in this space.

The findings of the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) which measures 117 economies on a range of tourism and travel related indicators and policies, has been published by the World Economic Forum today. What does it mean for how the tourism and travel sector can recover?

Many DMOs are searching for a new model as they emerge from the COVID rubble and start to think of building back for the longer term. Some leaders in our sector have brought out strategies announcing a “stewardship” approach but are now realising more fundamental change is needed to enable their destinations to thrive in the 21^st Century.

How can we build attractive communities where people want to live, work, visit and invest? And what does it take to engage your community in creating a vibrant place?