10h00 CET - Get the sustainability news of the year at our next Feeling the Pulse session, 15 November.

We'll share the results of the 2022 GDS-Index. The data shows very clearly that sustainability - and strategy - in tourism and events counts. Facts don’t lie - we are moving closer to Destination Regeneration with every effort.

Come celebrate the organisations that benchmarked, discover emerging industry trends and get to know the shining stars who clinched this year's GDS-Awards.

Which destination claimed the Leadership trophy? Which improved the most? Who is resetting the system and inspiring others with innovative projects that can scale and be adapted elsewhere? We'll explore this and more.

Outline is as follows:
- 2022 GDS-Index key trends this year
- First-time benchmarkers - positive trends for destinations new to managing and measuring their sustainability contributions
- Insights into specific GDS-Index criteria (there are 70 across 4 categories!)
- Representatives of the Leadership, Most Improved, and Innovation awards share their story

From 10h00 CET - For the associations meeting industry, featuring the annual GSD-Movement awards: the GDS-Index Leadership, GDS-Index Most Improved, and GDS-Movement Innovation awards. Open to all Congress attendees.

Each year, we celebrate the sustainability efforts of three destinations with the Leadership, Most Improved, and Innovation awards. This year, we announce the winners at the 61st ICCA Congress in Krakow, Poland, in a dedicated, in-person awards ceremony open to all congress attendees. You can meet the winners at our Feeling the Pulse webinar, free and open to all, on 15 November.

We keep hearing about "regeneration", but what is the difference between regeneration and sustainability? And what exactly is a regenerative event? In this entertaining, engaging introductory session brought to you by the pioneering GDS-Movement team, you can explore an approach to events that act within planetary boundaries, rebuild society, and regenerate nature. It is packed with case studies, real-world successes, and a few disasters stories, too!

Milda Salciute, Events, Education and Sustainability Changemaker and Guy Bigwood, CEO and Chief Changemaker, will help you to:

1. learn about regenerative principles, living system thinking and biomimicry-driven innovation,
2. understand the difference between sustainability and regenerative approaches, and their application to the events industry, and
3. gain an overview of the GDS-Movement Regenerative Event Management Framework and real work implementation

16h15 - 17h00 CET

Where technology meets tourism.

Transform the tourism sector through innovation, technology and sustainability. Under the theme, New Horizons for Tourism Tech, this year's Tourism Innovation Summit (TIS) is the perfect platform to boost business with a new focus based on specific trends, products and solutions for each industry segment: smart destinations, hotels, travel & mobility, distribution channels, activities & attractions, MICE, business travel, and leisure & culture travel. GDS-Movement Senior Changemaker, Monica Molina moderates a panel on Sustainability.

Session: Panel
Day and time: 4 November, 12h15 CET

Title: From Sustainable Tourism to Regenerative Tourism: learning from best practices

Regenerative tourism is understood as a sustainable way of travelling and discovering new places that leaves a place better than before. We went from the idea of not damaging the environment to revitalising and regenerating it actively. How can we use technology for to achieve this? Let's learn from a selection of industry best practices.

Moderator:
• Mònica Molina

Guest speakers:

• Anu Syrmä , Brand, Marketing and Communications Director at Helsinki Partners
• Miguel Angel Perez Alba, Brand & Markets Director at VISIT VALENCIA
• Carlos Cendra, Sales and Marketing Director at Mabrian Technologies

Get 50% off your silver and gold tickets with the code 2EHTV

09h45 - PASSING TREND OR BIG TRANSITION?

We are starting off with a big showdown of trend or transition – coming out of a summer, where over tourism is back with a vengeance: the Airmageddon of air travel’s return, the rising fuel costs and labour shortages. Heat is turned down in convention rooms, while restaurants and hotels are desperately short-handed. Are these all passing moments of discomfort and imbalance, or did we miss the post-pandemic Build Back Better connection altogether? Make sure to join for a high-speed opening session of quick answers, multiple perspectives and a room that shouldn’t expect to sit still as Signe Jungersted of Group NAO fuels the first Trend Express of the conference.

With
- Carina Bauer, CEO, IMEX Group
- Guy Bigwood, Managing Director & Chief Changemaker, Global Destination Sustainability Movement
- Melissa Cherry, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Miles Partnership Kristen Corrie, Policy Analyst, Tourism Policy & Analysis, OECD Mads Holme, Managing Partner, ReD Associates
- Jeremy Smith, Founder, Tourism Declares + Climate Specialist, The Travel Foundation

Sponsored by IMEX

10h45 local time - On a journey to "destination Regeneration", Guy Bigwood, CEO & Chief Changemaker, Global Destination Sustainability Movement explores where the global tourism and events industry is at right now.

This meeting seeks to be an innovative bet that strengthens the Meetings Industry, not only in Latin America, but also in Spain, a country that has set trends and has been a benchmark in the MICE segment. It is attended by the likes of Maria Eugenia Oriani(ProColombia), Karol Fajardo (IDT Bogotá), and event director, Yanira Garcia.

On 26 September, GDS-Movement Changemaker, Alejandra H. Zita, moderates the Spanish-language Meetings & Events Industry and Sustainability panel, discussing the importance of sustainability for Colombian destinations and events, at 09h00.

Celebrating the inaugural conference with discussion sessions on how we can build a more sustainable tourism sector together.

Guy Bigwood, Chief Changemaker and CEO of Global Destination Sustainability Movement (GDS-Movement), will be chairing the panel on sustainable tourism.

He will be joined by:
- Mark Upham, Conference Care and Carbon Consultancy
- Jac Callan, Visit Belfast
- Andrew Taylor, Warwick Conferences
- Bret Willers, Head of Climate Change & Sustainability, Coventry City Council