From 3 to 6 October, destination professionals can enjoy an extraordinary event week, as City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA), the Global Destination Sustainability Movement (GDS-Movement), and Visit València partner to bring you two incredible, back-to-back events, and to jointly announce and celebrate the new home of the prestigious, annual GDS-Awards.

The GDS-Forum will convene destination leaders and sustainability champions from around the world. This is a dynamic and unconventional gathering to discuss sustainability and impact strategies and best practices, learn from GDS-Index journeys, and co-create new approaches and initiatives for greater regenerative destination management. It will follow a novel, non-conference format with a focus on peer-to-peer learning, collaboration, and creativity.

FIEXPO, Promtur Panama, GDS-Movement, and #Meet4Impact join forces to start the first stage of the Sustainability and Legacy strategy, promoting a more sustainable meetings industry towards regeneration in Latin America, in this new edition.

FIEXPO Latin America is preparing to celebrate a new edition of the most important event in Latin America within its MICE industry. From 19 – 22 June, FIEXPO will receive qualified international associations, corporate buyers, incentive sector members, and exhibitors, from Argentina, Brazil, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and beyond, in Panama City.

During the event:
- Guy Bigwood, CEO and Chief Changemaker, GDS-Movement, and Genevieve, CEO and Co-founder, Meet4Impact, will speak.
- Our LATAM representative, Alejandra H. Zita, will deliver a workshop on Sustainability with Guy.

For everyone from events newcomers to experienced professionals, "IMEX is where the global business events community comes together for four exhilarating days every year. Where more than 3,000 meeting planners meet with 2,500-plus suppliers from every corner of the globe. This is where powerful business connections that offer real ROI are made."

Catch GDS-Changemakers Janie Neumann, Bella Shahsuvaryan, Milda Salciute, and Guy Bigwood for a chat about ways to step up, speed up, and scale up sustainability management for tourism and events.

11h20 CET - GDS-Movement Changemaker and expert in climate and certification, Janie Neumann, participates in a segment titled, “One-Bite Discussion: From Words to Action”. She discusses the role of marketing, certifications, investments, and where DMOs fit into this with Dr. Ljubica Knežević Cvelbar, Professor, University of Ljubljana, and Rodney Payne, CEO, Destination Think! Bring your burning questions!

*This conference is themed around “the elephant in the room”(those things we avoid discussing or dealing with that can crush us). “Is growth becoming the mammoth of tourism, and is the idea of quality tourism the white elephant of destination management? The City Destinations Alliance conference in Sofia, April 19-22, 2023 explores!”

11h20 CET - This is very "relephant"! It’s time to put meetings on trial. The case? Sustainability! Are we doing enough to justify meeting in person (and flying to and from the host destination for it)? Are we offering sufficient ROX to ensure meaningful attendance and a long-lasting, positive impact? Join this interactive “courtroom” argument questioning whether face-to-face meetings should be a thing of the past. Can we make them sustainable enough to last? You be the judge!

This session is co-hosted by Meetings Industry & Sustainability KGs, and moderated by David Peackock, Senior Advisor to Future Tourism Group at Simpleview.

*This conference is themed around “the elephant in the room”(those things we avoid discussing or dealing with that can crush us). “Is growth becoming the mammoth of tourism, and is the idea of quality tourism the white elephant of destination management? The City Destinations Alliance conference in Sofia, April 19-22, 2023 explores!”

"GSTC2022 Sevilla will bring together international and domestic tourism stakeholders involved in the development and promotion of sustainable travel and tourism; including the public sector, hotels, tour operators, corporates, OTAs, academia, development agencies, NGOs, consultants, and more. Participating in GSTC’s Sustainable Tourism Training Programme allows participants to gain in-depth knowledge of the GSTC Criteria before the Conference begins."

GDS-Movement changemakers Bella Shahsuvaryan, Khalisah Stevens, and Guy Bigwood attend the event to connect with like-minded professionals and exchange knowledge with regards to sustainable tourism and travel. If you would like to know more about how GDS-Movement is creating positive impacts through radical collaboration in the industry, our changemakers are happy to share over a cup of coffee.

Join us in Seville to participate in a mixture of panel discussions and interactive workshops with international and national experts in sustainable tourism as speakers.

IBTM World is the leading global event for the meetings, incentives, conferences and events industry, taking place annually in Barcelona. It has one goal; to inspire the events world to deliver exceptional experiences for their customers. IBTM World is engineered to give you a year’s worth of profitable leads in just three days. It brings together the global meetings industry, with everyone having that one common purpose – to meet the right people that can create better business results for their organisation.

If you'd like to build in-person connections with the right people, gain key industry insight and of course, engage in unrivalled networking opportunities over the three days, look out for the smiles of GDS-Movement changemakers BellaGuy, Khalisah and Monica. They'll be attending and would love to talk destination sustainability with you!

Joining us at IBTM World will be 3,000+ exciting destinations and quality suppliers ready to meet and network with 15,000+ industry professionals, from over 100 countries across the world.

The Colombian Tourism Awards recognise the people, companies, and institutions of the sector that, through their leadership, are inspiring and transforming tourism practices in Colombia. Since its first instance in 2019, the awards have enjoyed the support of businesses, the sector's unions, and the national government headed by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism.

GDS-Movement supported on the jury in the category, of contemporary tourism. This award recognises a business initiative committed to the implementation of regenerative tourism, and incorporating it into its business model. The winner in this category was: Hotel Isla del Encanto Barú.

GDS-Movement also supported on the jury in the category of Events with community impact. This award recognises an initiative connecting communities when attracting, promoting or holding international events in Colombia. The winner in this category was: Foodies SAS with the Initiative "Fiesta de Barrio".