Day One · 02 December · Leadership programme
Leadership
in the Age
of AI.
An invite-only working day for Chief Executives and senior leadership teams of national, regional and city DMOs, including Chief Marketing Officers and strategy and digital leads.
DateWednesday 02 December 2026
LocationDublin, Ireland
FormatInvite-only · 30 to 40 participants
ConventionHeld under Chatham House Rules
HostFáilte Ireland
About the day
AI is changing what makes a destination chosen. The consumer is forming impressions, trust and shortlists inside systems the DMO does not control, and the cost of the capability that used to separate large and small organisations is collapsing. The leadership question is not whether to engage. It is whether destination leaders are bold enough to rethink what their brand strategy and their marketing organisation are for.
01
Competitive
How AI is changing where and how destinations are chosen, and what that means when competitiveness is decided partly inside systems the destination does not own.
02
Organisational
How AI is collapsing the cost of capability, where competitive advantage now sits as scale and budget matter less, and which marketing activities it makes redundant.
Sessions are structured to work through both in depth, with time for candid peer exchange. The day is hosted by Fáilte Ireland and facilitated by the Digital Tourism Think Tank, taking place during Ireland's EU Council Presidency.
The central provocation
The hardest thing AI asks of a destination leader is the courage to dismantle what no longer works, including parts of your own organisation.
Programme output
The day is designed to constitute the Global Tourism Council for AI Governance and Leadership.
Participants are invited to form a focused leadership coalition representing destination leadership at the national, regional and city level. The Council is intended to issue the Dublin Declaration on AI in Tourism and to establish a Global Tourism Code of Practice on AI.
The Council is convened as a focused leadership coalition, working a layer below established intergovernmental bodies to translate principle into practice at destination level.
Proposed · FDB 2026
Global Tourism Council
for AI Governance
and Leadership.
for AI Governance
and Leadership.
01Dublin Declaration on AI in Tourism
02Global Tourism Code of Practice on AI
03Active through 2027, reporting on Day Two
Programme
08:30
Networking breakfast
An informal breakfast as participants arrive, with time to meet the leaders they will spend the day working alongside.
09:30 to 10:15
Opening
The opening: setting the direction for AI
Opening
The AI decisions that will define 2027
Nicholas Hall welcomes participants and sets out where AI moved in 2026 and which leadership decisions are becoming critical as 2027 approaches. The opening introduces the AI Transparency Framework as the thread running through the day and explains how the room will move from provocation to documented conclusions.
Founder & CEO · DTTT
Opening provocation
Who is setting your organisation's AI direction?
Every destination organisation already has an AI direction, whether its leaders chose it or inherited it from platforms, vendors and the systems already in place. This provocation puts a single challenge to the room about who is shaping how AI positions the destination and what it takes for leadership to set those terms.
Provocation
Fáilte Ireland
Workforce
What is AI doing to your team?
AI is reshaping roles, skills and team structures across every area of knowledge work. This provocation considers what that means for destination organisations that are small, specialised and difficult to restaff. It also looks at how leaders can design their teams for the work ahead.
Provocation
Chief Client Officer · Randstad
10:15 to 10:55
Part one
The market: where travellers meet AI
Three ten-minute provocations on the forces shaping how travellers find and choose destinations, each closing with one question for the room and followed by a short exchange.
Frontier models
How should a destination work with the companies building AI?
The companies building frontier AI now sit between travellers and destinations, and tourism bodies are increasingly deciding whether to partner with them, wait or build their own capability. This provocation offers a view from inside one of those companies on how it works with national industries and public bodies, what makes those partnerships valuable to both sides and what leaders should weigh before committing their organisation. It closes with one question for the room on the terms destinations should set together.
Provocation
AI visibility
Who decides how AI describes a destination?
The answer an AI assistant gives about a place is fast becoming part of its brand, shaping how travellers see it long before they arrive. This provocation asks who is accountable for that representation and how leadership teams can influence the sources, signals and partnerships AI systems draw on.
Provocation
Media
The new economics of attention
AI is reshaping the media and advertising markets that destinations buy into, from how audiences are reached to how results are measured. This provocation offers an independent read on what these shifts mean for reach, measurement and the cost of being seen.
Provocation
10:55
Coffee break
11:10 to 11:50
Part two
The rules: the ground destinations stand on
Three short provocations on the regulatory, legal and sovereignty questions every destination organisation now faces, followed by a short exchange in the room.
Policy
What the EU AI Act means for destinations
The final AI Act deadline for marking AI-generated content falls on the day of this meeting, which makes it the right moment to hear how the regulation works in practice. This provocation sets out what the rules mean for destination organisations that publish content and run public-facing services.
Provocation
Digital Trend Analyst · DTTT
Sovereignty
What risks are we willing to take?
As national tourism services come to depend on AI models built and hosted elsewhere, every destination has to decide which risks it is prepared to carry and where it needs protection. This provocation maps where that exposure sits and explores how a tourism body can keep control of what matters most while giving its teams the freedom to create.
Provocation
11:50 to 12:40
Part three
From the destinations: testing the morning against practice
Destination leaders bring the morning's themes into the reality of running a tourism organisation, followed by time for the room to respond.
Capability and cost
The real cost of enterprise AI
Adopting AI across a whole organisation asks a great deal of a small national tourism body, in time, budget and people. Jan Hutton shares an honest account of what that journey has demanded at Bermuda Tourism Authority, including the lessons that came from getting parts of it wrong. From there, the intervention turns to two questions every leadership team now faces: what capability the organisation needs to build to use AI well and how openly it should tell its board, partners and visitors where AI shapes its work.
Destination intervention
CEO · Bermuda Tourism Authority
Scenarios
Which future is your destination preparing for?
AI could take tourism in several directions over the coming years, which makes planning across more than one scenario a core leadership skill. Wendy Weijdema draws on the scenarios MarketingOost has developed to put four questions to the room: what a destination organisation would stop doing, what becomes more valuable, what needs to be built now and what remains valuable across every future.
Destination intervention
Deputy Director · MarketingOost
12:40
Business lunch
13:45 to 16:30
Afternoon
The outcomes: from proposed standards to shared conclusions
Framing the outcomes
Proposed standards for AI governance and adoption for tourism
Before the working sessions begin, DTTT sets out the outcomes the day is working towards and the direction proposed for each, so participants can shape them from the start. The session opens with a short overview of how the tourism industry could manage agentic AI, the systems that act on a destination's behalf by answering visitors, making bookings and publishing content.
The session then proposes maximum thresholds for how far these agents should go, covering what they can decide alone, when a person needs to approve their actions and which decisions should always rest with the organisation's leaders. These thresholds form the starting point for the Code of Practice. Participants are invited to question the proposals and share their own understanding, which the working sessions then take further.
Presentation and discussion
Declaration
Dublin Declaration on AI in Tourism
A shared statement of principles that charts the path of AI adoption.
Code of Practice
Global Tourism Code of Practice on AI
A proposed body of standards to shape AI governance across the sector.
Working sessions
From questions to conclusions
Two concurrent working sessions take the proposed standards forward through the four questions introduced in the morning, so their conclusions can be compared and combined into the day's published outputs.
Working session
Session A · Adoption
Driving adoption of AI centred on value generation
This session focuses on adoption, drawing on the morning's provocations on workforce and the market alongside the two destination interventions. It explores where AI adds most value for a destination organisation, which activities a marketing team should stop doing and what capability needs to be built now. Its conclusions shape the practical guidance in the Code of Practice and the State of Destination AI Report.
Session B · Governance
Setting thresholds for AI use in tourism
This session focuses on governance, drawing on the morning's provocations on regulation, law and sovereignty. It tests the proposed thresholds for AI agents, explores where disclosure and accountability should sit and considers which principles destination leaders are ready to take to their boards and governments. Its conclusions shape the Code of Practice and the Dublin Declaration.
Afternoon break
Synthesis
Shared conclusions for the sector
DTTT brings together the conclusions of both working sessions into a shared position for the sector. These conclusions form the Executive Briefing Summary and shape the State of Destination AI Report, both submitted to EU institutions as a sector contribution during Ireland's EU Council Presidency.
Policy output
Founder & CEO · DTTT
16:30
Close
Closing remarks
The Leadership Day comes to a close with a short reflection on what the room has agreed. Participants are then invited to explore Winter in Dublin, Fáilte Ireland's citywide season of culture, food, events and after-dark experiences that runs from November to January, before the evening's drinks and dinner.
19:30
Drinks and dinner
Drinks and dinner at Bewley's on Grafton Street, open to every delegate. Delegates confirm on their ticket page or in the app, for numbers and dietary needs.
All delegates
Before you arrive
The EU AI Act readiness assessment.
Participants complete a fifteen-question readiness assessment before the day. A public-facing companion to Day One.
Who should attend
Chief Executives and senior leaders of national, regional, city and state DMOs who hold a direct mandate for their organisation's direction on AI.
Published outputs
The day produces a set of papers built for destination leaders: a shared position on AI they can take to their own boards and governments, and practical instruments they can apply at home.
Because the sector speaks with one voice, these outputs are also intended to reach policymakers, institutions and technology leaders shaping how AI impacts the global tourism landscape.
Declaration
Dublin Declaration on AI in Tourism
FDB 2026
A shared statement of principle that destination leaders can take to their own boards and governments.
Code of Practice
Global Tourism Code of Practice on AI
FDB 2026
A proposed operating standard for the sector, built on the AI Transparency Framework.
Report
State of Destination AI Report
FDB 2026
A comprehensive synthesis of the day, distributed across the industry.
Briefing
Executive Briefing Summary
FDB 2026
Concise, formal, designed to be read by policy audiences.
The day gives destination leaders a shared position on AI and practical instruments they can apply within their own organisations.
Places on the leadership day are by personal invitation only. To discuss participation, please get in touch.