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THE CITYDNA AUTUMN CONFERENCE 2025 IS REDEFINING WHAT THE VISITOR ECONOMY CAN BE – FROM THE EDGE OF EUROPE
T ucked between dramatic
cliffs and the North Atlantic, Tórshavn might seem like an unlikely destination for one of Europe’ s most forward-thinking conferences. But 30 September- 2 October 2025, the Faroe Islands’ capital will host the City Destinations Alliance Autumn Conference under the bold theme:‘ Refreshed city perspectives: Reshaping, rebalancing, reigniting the visitor economy.’
This isn ' t business-as-usual. Forget long plenaries and rigid schedules. In Tórshavn, participants will co-create a new kind of conference experience. Instead of closed-door discussions, expect‘ walkshops’ along coastal paths, campfire conversations, peer-to-peer learning, and a venue that is anything but conventional: the SILO, a repurposed salt silo blending industrial rawness with creative flexibility.
The programme will challenge city leaders, DMOs, and changemakers to confront hard truths and rethink legacy assumptions about tourism. Sessions will span three forward-looking tracks – Reshape, Rebalance, and Reignite – covering a wide range of pressing and practical issues. Topics include destination storytelling through failure and success case studies, accessibility and inclusive information standards, community collaboration models and AI’ s real-world applications for destination marketing. The conference will also feature research, including the CityDNA Trend Room Knowledge Group’ s white paper‘ Climate change and the future of tourism’.
The conference will also feature two provocative keynote sessions. One from the House of Beautiful Business, led by head of marketing & communications Dima Samarin, and creative director Jesse May Palmer will explore how
Above: Barbara Jamison-Woods
Left: Torshavn. Photo courtesy of Visit Faroe Islands / Paul Brechu
businesses and places can design more emotionally intelligent and purposedriven futures. The other keynote, delivered by Caitlin Morrissey, host of The DNA of Cities podcast, will focus on how Europe’ s future depends on its cities’ ability to understand and express their unique identity.
What truly sets this edition apart is its collective output. Over the three days, delegates will contribute to The CityDNA Tórshavn Declaration: a live, participatory manifesto capturing the sector’ s evolving values..
For Tórshavn, this is more than a hosting opportunity, it’ s a statement.“ Many people think it’ s hard to get here, or that we ' re far away. But that’ s simply not true. We’ re well connected. So, we embraced this misconception and turned it into a story,” says Tórdis K. á Rógvi Biskopstø, managing director of Visit Tórshavn.“ Being‘ remote’ is not just geography. It’ s a mindset. It’ s the space to think differently, to disconnect from routines and reconnect with meaning. That became our core message: remoteness as creative space.”
“ In a time where many conferences default to safe formats and predictable themes, Tórshavn offers the opposite: perspective, provocation, and possibility. This is more than a conference, it’ s an invitation to redesign the future of the visitor economy from the ground up,” says Barbara Jamison-Woods, president of City Destinations Alliance.“ If your destination is ready to challenge the status quo, reimagine its role in the tourism landscape, and connect deeply with a like-minded professional, then the CityDNA Autumn Conference in Tórshavn is where you need to be. If you want to develop discussions into long term, sustainable and practical actions then the City Destinations Alliance community is where you belong.” n
n Interested in joining CityDNA? Contact flavie @ citydna. eu
ISSUE 138 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 51