CityDNA 2026 in Helsinki: Trust, Data and the Reinvention of Urban Tourism
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8th May, 2026
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All photos kindly provided by City Destinations Alliance
The CityDNA International Conference & General Assembly 2026 in Helsinki gathered more than 230 delegates to explore a defining question for the future of European cities: what makes a destination truly successful in an era of complexity, fragmentation, and accelerating technological change? Under the theme “The Human Pulse of Place and Purpose – Beyond the Numbers”, the conference moved decisively beyond traditional tourism metrics, positioning trust, social cohesion, and human experience as the new foundations of urban competitiveness. Across two days of debate, a clear narrative emerged where destinations are no longer measured solely by growth, but by their ability to balance residents’ wellbeing, visitor experience, and long-term urban sustainability within a single, integrated system.
Manuel A. Fernandes reports from Helsinki
The CityDNA International Conference & General Assembly 2026, held in Helsinki, sought to mark a pivotal moment for the European urban destination ecosystem, bringing together more than 230 delegates from 30 countries for a debate that extended well beyond tourism as an economic sector. Under the theme “The Human Pulse of Place and Purpose – Beyond the Numbers”, the conference consolidated an ongoing conceptual shift: the transition from a visitor economy mindset to a broader, more integrated approach centred on what truly defines a destination: its people, its communities, and the social contract that underpins urban life.
“We need to sit at the table. Airbnb is a huge force for tourism in Hamburg, but we now have the opportunity to use data, steer it more effectively, and help these companies understand how we perceive tourism and how we want to shape the development of our city,” said Michael Otremba, CEO of Hamburg Tourismus. He was joined in this session by Patrick Bontick, CEO of visit.brussels; Karel Platteau, EU Senior Public Policy Manager at Airnbnb; Mariana Oleskiv, Chair of the Future of Cities Coalition; and Raul Sanchez, Secretary General of the European Large Families Confederation (ELFAC).
This shift became evident from the very first sessions. The opening discussion, focused on the state of the industry, clearly articulated the new paradigm: destination organisations (DMOs and CVBs) are no longer assessed solely on overnight stays or revenue, but increasingly on their ability to serve residents first. The underlying premise is both simple and disruptive: cities that function well for those who live in them will naturally become more attractive to visitors, whereas the reverse tends to trigger a range of social tensions. The opening session also reinforced the need to reposition tourism within the public policy debate, highlighting that the sector remains too often marginalised in political decision-making processes.
The keynote address by Professor Greg Clark, urbanist, scholar, and Founder of The DNA of Cities, a project we featured in February in HQ magazine (see here), deepened this perspective by introducing the concept of the urban “social contract”. In a context of mounting pressures, including housing affordability, climate change, mobility, digital platforms, and overtourism, tourism emerges not only as a source of tension but as a potential instrument for rebalancing, provided it is guided by principles of equity, trust, and participation. Within this framework, the notion of “optimum tourism” replaces the simplistic debate between growth and restraint.
The challenge is not merely to increase or reduce visitor flows, but to define the type, scale, and impact of tourism that each city can accommodate without compromising its social cohesion. Vienna was repeatedly referenced as a compelling example of this balance, with its long-standing public housing model (where 60 to 70% of residents live in partially or fully subsidised homes) demonstrating how sustained investment in affordability and liveability can support a more sustainable and socially accepted approach to tourism growth. "Trust is going to be the key ingredient that we have to foster, enable, encourage, optimize and use. Trust is at the heart of everything," he says.
Helsinki: an urban laboratory of sustainability and trust
The choice of Helsinki as host city proved particularly symbolic. Consistently associated with Finland’s position as the world’s happiest country (don’t miss our exclusive story on Helsinki Capital Region in the latest HQ #124 issue), the city embodies an urban model grounded in institutional trust, social cohesion, and a deep connection to nature, all themes that remained central throughout the conference discussions. More than simply a venue, Helsinki positioned itself as a practical case study in place leadership, where strategy and execution converge. The city has increasingly established itself as a benchmark for sustainable tourism, not merely through environmental metrics, but through a broader vision that integrates culture, design, and collective wellbeing.
The VivaCITY Helsinki case study demonstrated how this vision translates into tangible action. Rather than accumulating data for its own sake, the city has invested in pilot programmes (such as the Tourism Testbed) designed to test products and services in real-world settings, involving both users and stakeholders in the process. This approach reinforced one of the conference’s strongest messages: data only becomes meaningful when it generates concrete transformation. "Instead of collecting more data, we focused on the value and engagement. We assessed the value of our databases one by one by asking very simple questions such as what do we need in our daily work, what is being used and what data actually creates change," explained Jukka Punamaki, Senior Advisor at Helsinki Tourism and Destination Management, City of Helsinki.
Another distinctive aspect of Helsinki’s strategy is its commitment to regenerative tourism, where visitors cease to be passive consumers and instead become active contributors to the destination. Baltic Sea initiatives, nature-based experiences, and community engagement programmes illustrated how tourism can actively generate positive value for the territory and its communities. Interestingly, Helsinki also faces the phenomenon of “green hushing” (the undercommunication of its sustainability credentials) highlighting a broader challenge faced by many destinations today: aligning what a city truly is, what it communicates, and how it is ultimately perceived externally. "Although Helsinki is really leaning in all the charts about sustainability, they don't talk about it. The design and culture here are truly impressive and make us feel special here in Helsinki... but nobody talks about it," said Frank Cuypers, co-founder of the destination consultancy Place Generation and one of the coordinators of this VivaCITY programme.
From Community Value to the Experience Economy: Redefining Destination Success
Over the course of two days, the conference developed a remarkably coherent narrative, with different sessions reinforcing a common idea: the future of destinations will depend on their ability to integrate the human dimension, technology, and sustainability into a unified strategic vision.
One of the most recurring themes was the need to reposition tourism as a tool for social balance and as part of the solution to broader urban challenges. Cases such as Glasgow – represented at the conference by Aileen Crawford, Head of Tourism & Conventions at Glasgow Convention Bureau, and Carron Tobin, Executive Director of SCOTO, Scottish Community Tourism – demonstrated how community tourism initiatives can generate direct impact within local communities through partnerships with social enterprises and co-creation models. “We spent a year researching, communicating, workshopping. Carron came into Glasgow a couple of times over the year to present to the social enterprises. We went on visits, and we engaged for a year before we hosted the SCOTO conference,” said Crawford.
Here, success is no longer measured purely through visitor numbers, but through social outcomes such as local employment, community resilience, and talent retention. This repositioning reflects a profound shift: tourism is no longer something that simply “happens” to cities, but rather something that happens with cities. “A lot of communities feel that tourism happens to them. They're not engaged in the process of how visitors are coming. A good place to visit has to first of all be a good place to live and work,” added Tobin, referencing a community-led project called Callander hostel whose success is measured less by occupancy rates than by its contribution to apprenticeships, youth retention, and long-term neighbourhood regeneration.
The so-called experience economy emerged as one of the principal drivers of growth, evolving from a niche segment into a structural pillar of destination development. London exemplifies this transformation, having formally integrated the experience economy into its long-term growth strategy. The focus is shifting from “where do I want to go?” to “how do I want to feel?”, reflecting a significant behavioural change among travellers.
“If we look solely at the immersive sector, it is set to grow from its current figure of around £98 billion to £350 billion within three to four years. What this clearly means is that the experience sector is a growing one. The opportunity is real and the pace is accelerating,” said Richard Wilcox, Head of Destination at London & Partners. This trend reinforces the idea that destinations are remembered not for their tangible attributes, but for the emotions and narratives they create, a principle closely aligned with the “human pulse” that defined the conference theme.
“Rather than viewing experiences as vertical pillars operating effectively, perhaps in parallel, the approach here is to create experiences that are difficult to replicate, experiences that not only shape perception, forge emotional connections, and attract global audiences, but also interconnect and reinforce one another. In this way, the experience economy is providing us with the destination’s foundational platform,” he added.
Overtourism, Housing Pressures and the Rise of Europe’s Secondary Cities
Pressure on iconic destinations remains a central concern. However, the approach has evolved: rather than relying on reactive responses, the discussion is now centred on strategic management based on carrying capacity, visitor flow redistribution, and social legitimacy. Cities such as Barcelona and Vienna illustrate markedly different approaches, particularly in relation to housing policy. The debate surrounding short-term rentals and the new European regulatory framework highlighted the need for governance grounded in data and transparency, but also in dialogue with platforms and local communities. Within this context, tourist taxation emerges not merely as a financial instrument, but also as a means of demonstrating to residents that tourism contributes to the collective good.
Against an increasingly unstable geopolitical backdrop, Europe’s secondary cities are emerging as one of the sector’s greatest opportunities. With a uniquely polycentric urban structure, comprising approximately 250 mid-sized cities, Europe holds a clear competitive advantage: the ability to offer more authentic, less saturated experiences that are more closely connected to local everyday life. “Europe is critical at the moment in terms of the opportunity to capitalise on what’s going on in the rest of the world. It’s not just the key well-known cities. It’s the secondary cities that people are beginning to want to know now. We did a partnership with Istria and Slovenia and now we’ve run two incentives in that destination,” said Meenaz Diamond, Global General Manager at Maritz Global (below on the right), during the opening session. This repositioning responds directly to a new type of demand, particularly from the North American market, which increasingly values destinations that are less obvious, more distinctive, and perceived as more genuine.
The New Complexity of the Business Events Ecosystem
The session The MICE Pulse Check: How the Business Events Ecosystem is Changing? focused on the structural evolution of the business events sector in a context marked by growing operational complexity, increasing pressure for tangible outcomes, and a clear redefinition of what constitutes value. “Sustainability has moved from a narrative to accountability. It's no longer a positioning exercise, but is instead embedded in the bid criteria, linked to the host city’s policy. I think this is a real reset,” said Natasha Richards, Director of Impact & Industry Relations at IMEX Group.
The discussion underlined that the MICE ecosystem can no longer be viewed solely as an autonomous economic driver, but rather as a strategic component embedded within urban competitiveness, economic diplomacy, and the international positioning of destinations. As a result, congresses, meetings, and incentive programmes are no longer assessed exclusively through volume or direct economic impact, but increasingly through their contribution to broader ecosystems of knowledge, innovation, and territorial development.
A second panel discussion at Finlandia Hall highlighted the significant rise in operational complexity across the sector, driven by longer decision-making cycles, increased budget scrutiny, and heightened expectations surrounding sustainability and the social responsibility of events. “I had a conference that we were bidding for and my first step was to ask who is on the board. I saw that the decision-makers were in my age range, and so I did a totally different pitch with some short videos to explain why Graz is the best destination. We won that bid. I think it's very important to ask who your decision-makers are so you target the right person,” said Lisa Legat, Head of Graz Convention Bureau.
At the same time, speakers acknowledged the growing pressure for faster and more efficient responses to RFP processes, forcing destination organisations to balance operational agility with strategic depth. “What a lot of destinations are really getting wrong is the complexity of how clients are actually deciding on events. It's not necessarily just the agency that you're talking to; they need to have this offer move through a whole chain of command. It needs to go to the senior event person, who needs to make a shortlist, who needs to have the shortlist validated, who then takes it to procurement, who negotiates it, and finally brings it to the C-suite. And those steps need to happen really, really fast,” explained Bettina Reventlow-Mourier (top left), Deputy Convention Director at Wonderful Copenhagen.
Within this context, the most competitive destinations will be those capable of combining operational efficiency with a compelling impact narrative, positioning MICE not merely as an event acquisition industry, but as an active instrument for economic and social transformation.
VivaCITY Torino: Destination DNA, Trust and Strategic Identity
The two VivaCITY case studies (Helsinki and Turin) showed distinctly different approaches to destination transformation. While Helsinki demonstrated the importance of execution and experimentation, Turin stood out for the depth of its strategic process. Over a two-year period, the city focused not on launching projects, but on building trust, alliances, and a shared vision, engaging stakeholders not merely as participants, but as “right holders”. “The process is everything. What we did in Turin was very different from what we did in Helsinki. There were no projects. For two years, there was even panic. What we were doing was building a process. It was a matter of trust,” said Frank Cuypers (below).
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Turin’s strategy – Torino Tale – combines qualitative growth with storytelling, structuring the destination’s offer around seven experiential pillars that reflect the city’s local identity and cultural heritage. “Those are our key assets. Torino is probably the best-known city in Italy for its royal heritage. We were the first capital of Piemonte. Food and drink culture is not only a strategic asset to welcome tourists, but over the last hundred years it has also become a genuine industry,” said Maurizio Vitale, President of Turismo Torino e Provincia.
Together, both case studies reinforced one of the conference’s central conclusions: there are no universally replicable models for destination development. Instead, each city must begin with its own “DNA,” a concept widely explored throughout the conference, in order to build strategies that are both authentic and sustainable.
Rethinking the Role of DMOs in an AI-Driven World
Technology, and particularly artificial intelligence, emerged as another defining theme of the conference, shaping discussions across sessions such as The Great Debate: Beyond the Numbers – Data vs. Human Insight in Shaping Our Cities and Rethinking the Role of DMOs in an AI-Driven World. Together, both conversations explored how AI is rapidly transforming the way travellers discover, plan, and experience destinations, while simultaneously questioning how cities can balance data-driven decision-making with human-centred governance.
A recurring conclusion throughout both sessions was that the challenge is no longer “data versus human”, but rather how to combine the two effectively. While data enables greater personalisation, behavioural analysis, and operational efficiency, speakers repeatedly stressed that it cannot fully capture the emotional, cultural, and social meaning of experiences.
As AI increasingly shapes travel recommendations and visitor journeys, DMOs are being pushed to evolve from traditional marketing organisations into trusted providers of structured destination intelligence and facilitators of digital ecosystems. At the same time, the discussions reinforced the enduring importance of storytelling, authenticity, and emotional connection — positioning these human qualities as essential differentiators in an increasingly automated travel landscape.
From Maps to Constellations: Trust as the New Tourism Infrastructure
The session “From Tourist Journey to Constellation Model: Rethinking Tourism for a Connected Future” proposed a shift in perspective: from the linear tourist journey to a living constellation of experiences, where each touchpoint influences decisions shaped less by the availability of information and more by trust. In an ecosystem saturated with digital signals and automated recommendations, the real challenge is no longer to inform, but to inspire confidence in choice.
Within this framework, DMOs position themselves as curators of meaning and orchestrators of validated knowledge, with TICs playing a key role in revealing “localhood” – the elements that do not appear in algorithms but define the soul of a destination. At the same time, the session highlighted the urgency of breaking down internal silos, connecting marketing, data, and frontline services into a single operational narrative. Ultimately, the model reminds us that tourism is not organised solely through maps or journeys, but through relationships of trust. And that even the most advanced technology cannot replace the essential foundation: robust, human, and well-interpreted data.
From Destination Marketing to Urban Storytelling Systems
The Case Study Lab sessions dedicated to Copenhagen and Linz proved how European destinations are progressively moving away from a logic centred solely on attracting visitors, towards more sophisticated models of urban governance, where tourism, quality of life, and territorial identity become deeply interconnected.
Copenhagen emerged as a particularly strong example of this transformation through its Legacy Lab programme (extensively covered in our HQ Mag). The Danish capital presented concrete cases of medical events in which the focus is no longer on promotional storytelling, but on events as operational infrastructure integrated into intellectual capital, urban design, MICE strategy, and the city’s relationship with its residents. Among the examples frequently associated with this model are large-scale international congresses in the fields of cardiology, diabetes, and public health, such as the meetings of the European Society of Cardiology and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, as well as other European scientific events which, when hosted in the city, have been used as catalysts for urban innovation, community engagement, and long-term transformation.
The Linz case presented by Marie-Louise Schnurpfeil, Linz Tourismus CEO (pictured above), at CityDNA stood out precisely for the launch of the “Expect the Unexpected” campaign, which frames the city not as a conventional tourism destination, but as a space of continuous experimentation and evolving cultural narrative. Rather than communicating static attributes, the campaign builds an identity based on surprise, innovation, and the deconstruction of expectations associated with the medium-sized European city. Through a creative approach combining contemporary storytelling, disruptive visual language, and the use of emerging technologies and innovations such as medias arts and AI, Linz set itself as a living laboratory of urban communication. This repositioning does not merely serve promotional purposes, but reinforces a broader city branding strategy oriented towards differentiation within the MICE and cultural context, highlighting how smaller cities can compete globally through bold narratives that remain coherent with their innovative identity.
All in all, the CityDNA Conference 2026 delivered a clear message: the future of urban destinations will not be determined by their capacity to grow, but by their ability to generate trust. Trust between residents and visitors; between the public and private sectors; and in the way destinations use data, technology, and resources.
“What makes CityDNA unique is not only the knowledge we share, but the way we share it: with openness and a genuine willingness to learn from one another,” said Barbara Jamison-Woods, President of CityDNA (pictured below). “In Helsinki, we saw a community ready to tackle complex challenges together and shape a visitor economy that delivers real value for people and places.”
In this new paradigm, DMOs position themselves as managers of complex systems, where tourism, quality of life, and urban development are deeply interconnected, creating cities where people want to live, work, and, naturally, visit. The next opportunity to further this debate will be the CityDNA Autumn Conference in Verona, Italy, where this agenda of transformation and strategic consolidation is expected to continue.
Don’t miss our interviews with Frank Cuypers, Founder of Place Generation, and Charlotte Bellmann, Project Manager at the German Institute for Tourism Research, coming very soon.
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