The keynote
programme.

Welcome breakfast

Breakfast and coffee as delegates arrive, with time to settle in and meet the people they will spend the day alongside.

Opening: The State of Destination Brand

Nick Hall sets out where destination brand stands as 2027 approaches. The opening looks at what shifted over the past year, which questions the sector is still working through and how the day's six themes connect them.

Host Welcome: Welcome from Fáilte Ireland

Fáilte Ireland welcomes delegates to Dublin on behalf of the host destination.

Many Campaigns, One City: How Vienna Builds a Brand Across Niches

Focused campaigns that each reach a distinct audience can grow a destination brand faster than one broad message, as long as every one of them adds to a story people recognise. Vienna Tourist Board has spent the past year putting that idea into practice, with campaigns including Vienna Bites, Wanderful Vienna and The Vienna Template each speaking to a clear niche. Catharina Reiss, Director of the Mediahouse at Vienna Tourist Board, shares how the team plans these campaigns as one coordinated programme and where they intersect to tell the same story about the city. This keynote will explore how destinations can target specific audiences with confidence, how to keep a portfolio of campaigns pulling in one direction and what an in-house media team brings to that work.

Ready for the Moment: Turning Cultural Attention into Reasons to Visit

The biggest moments in destination marketing arrive on someone else's schedule, which rewards the teams that have prepared for them. Puerto Rico experienced two within a few months, with Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance placing the island in front of a global audience and a viral fan-made song spreading its charm across social media. Storm Tussey, Chief Marketing Officer at Discover Puerto Rico, shares how an always-on planning approach gave the destination the foundations to respond with speed, from a second-screen campaign built around the game to an official music video filmed across the island with the song's creator. Each response gave audiences a clear next step, whether that meant exploring the culture behind the performance or looking beyond the usual tourist spots. This keynote will explore how destination leaders can combine steady planning with trend-led agility so that the moments they cannot predict become real reasons to visit.

Coffee Break

Heritage on Screen: Launching a Destination Story at the Right Moment

Authentic connection gives a destination story its credibility and timing gives it an audience. Croatia combined both for “I Hear It’s Beautiful”, a six-minute short film starring John Malkovich, whose family roots trace back to Croatia and who recently became a Croatian citizen. Martina Srnec, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Croatian National Tourist Board, shares how the Board turned a genuine heritage link into a marketing asset, with a sceptical traveller who gradually falls for the country and a creative team that included people of Croatian descent. The film premiered in the United States, Croatia’s most important long-haul market, at the national football team’s World Cup training camp, which placed the story in front of an audience already looking at Croatia. Within two months the campaign recorded 17.3 million views and more than 260 media reports across 15 markets. This keynote will explore how destination leaders can find the heritage connections within their own place and launch them at the moment audiences are most ready to listen.

From Viral Moment to Brand Platform: Building a Destination Voice That Lasts

Distinctive brand assets give a destination an advantage that grows with every campaign, which makes building on success one of the most valuable choices a marketing team can make. Visit Oslo has shown how this works with Halfdan, the deadpan local from "Is it even a city?" who turned the city's underdog status among European city breaks into a voice audiences now recognise. The team brought him back for "It's totally even a city", a winter musical made on a minimal budget and shared without paid promotion, which shows Oslo from a fresh perspective in the season the city most wants visitors. In this fireside chat, Tord Baklund, Marketing Manager at Visit Oslo, will discuss the creative choices behind both films, what gave the team the confidence to try something no other destination had done and what it takes to keep a character fresh from one campaign to the next. The conversation will also explore the growing use of characters in destination marketing and how a distinctive voice can turn attention into real reasons to visit.

How Audio-Led Discovery Turns Curiosity into Decision

Immersive audio storytelling draws listeners in and it remains an often untapped opportunity for destinations. A well-told story holds attention in a way few other formats can, carrying listeners from one episode to the next and leaving them curious to see the places for themselves. This keynote will explore how immersive storytelling deepens engagement, how it can raise the profile of places beyond the familiar highlights and why audio is a growing space for creative storytelling.

AI Discoverability and Destination Choice: The Role of AI Trip Planners

Travellers are increasingly deciding where to go inside a conversation with an AI assistant, which makes being discoverable to AI one of the most important questions in destination marketing today. As these tools take people from a first idea to a finished plan, they shape which places, experiences and local businesses reach the shortlist. Michelle Denogean, Chief Marketing Officer at Mindtrip, draws on the company's work with destinations across North America and Europe to show how AI trip planners guide that decision and why travellers who plan with AI place particular trust in official destination sources. That trust gives destinations a real advantage when their own content, local knowledge and partner listings sit at the heart of the recommendations travellers receive. This keynote will explore how destinations can make their content discoverable to AI, how to stay present from the first question through to the final booking and what it takes to remain the trusted voice for the place as AI reshapes how travellers choose.

Networking Lunch

CMO Perspectives on Evolving Strategies

This session focuses on evolving approaches to marketing and campaigns. It brings together two or three examples of how DMOs are evolving their overall strategic approach to reflect and adapt to changes in the market, from shifts in the digital and consumer landscape to the industry environment and the way teams work with content and creative. Two short presentations are followed by a fireside chat on the points they raise.

Deploying AI Without Losing the Destination's Voice

Deploying AI at scale creates a real risk: that the brand tone of voice that distinguishes a destination gets averaged out. This keynote explores how a leading DMO has approached AI adoption while protecting what makes its voice distinct, covering the governance decisions and disclosure practice that made it possible.

Afternoon Break

Film as a Tool for Events Marketing: Putting Local People at the Centre of the Story

MICE travel brings people to a destination for a purpose, which creates an opportunity to show them more of the place than the event itself. Visit Porto and North has used film to present northern Portugal to event planners in a fun, people-centred way, most recently in “The Big Trend by Ofelia de Souza”, where the destination’s own staff step in front of the camera. Diana Silva, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Visit Porto and North, shares how the team shaped film for a MICE audience. The session will explore how putting local people at the centre of the story encourages business visitors to stay longer and keeps a brand distinctive as AI reshapes marketing.

Where Destination Brands Appear: Protecting Trust and Driving Performance

Destination marketers put significant effort into how a place is presented. Where its advertising appears deserves the same attention. Unsuitable content can damage a destination’s reputation, while ad fraud and low-quality sites waste budget intended to reach potential visitors. Leanne Caldwell Hope looks at what these risks mean for destination marketing and how to address them. The session will cover practical ways to improve media quality across the open web, social media and video, alongside the questions marketers should be asking as AI changes how people discover and plan travel. Learn how to protect your destination’s reputation, reduce wasted spend and ask more of every channel.

From the Leadership Day: CEO Reflections on AI

Chief Executives from the Leadership Day bring the previous day's discussion to the wider room, sharing where they found common ground and which questions remain open. The session connects the private leadership meeting to the public programme and gives every delegate a direct view of the decisions shaping the sector.

Closing Remarks

X. Awards

The awards are held at the same venue. Doors open at 19:30.