European Cities Marketing
City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA) is a European membership-based knowledge sharing alliance headquartered in Dijon, France, serving Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux, and Destination Management Organisations across European cities through research benchmarking, industry events, and peer networking.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersDijon, France
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What European Cities Marketing does
City Destinations Alliance, operating under the CityDNA brand and formerly known as European Cities Marketing (ECM), is a European membership-based knowledge sharing alliance headquartered in Dijon, France. Founded in its current form in 2017 through a rebrand of the longer-running ECM, the organisation serves Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux, and Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) across European cities including Amsterdam, Paris, Copenhagen, Barcelona, London, Helsinki, Verona, Antwerp, Lausanne, Dubrovnik, Graz, and Nuremberg. It functions as a professional association rather than a technology company: the core offering is curated content, peer benchmarking, and structured networking delivered through events, working groups, and research publications, with no proprietary technology platform.
The product portfolio centres on the CityDNA Summer School (a five-day annual educational programme reaching its 40th edition in Dijon in August 2026), the Autumn Conference (Verona, October 2026), seven Knowledge Groups covering City Cards, Marketing & Communication, Meetings Industry, Research & Insights, Sustainability, Tourist Information Centres, and Trends, and a research library anchored by the City Travel Report, Trend Room Whitepapers (e.g., the October 2025 Climate Change and Future of Tourism paper with ETFI), and the VivaCITY sustainability initiative (e.g., "The Score is Not the Story," July 2025, with Simpleview). Distribution is community-led: members are acquired through peer referrals, industry events, and partnerships such as IMEX Frankfurt, and engaged through hosted in-person gatherings and gated whitepaper downloads.
The business model relies on negotiated recurring membership subscriptions paid by public-sector destination organisations; pricing is not publicly disclosed. Leadership is anchored by President Barbara Jamison-Woods, who concurrently heads the Tourism and Convention Bureau at London & Partners, reflecting the dual-hat executive structure common to industry associations. Recent strategic activity has emphasised thought leadership (Tórshavn Declaration, 2025), research partnerships (Simpleview, ETFI), and incremental initiative expansion (DEPLOYTOUR, Glasgow Declaration, City Cards Map, Trend Talks). The organisation is privately held, has no subsidiaries, and reports no parent entity or external funding.
European Cities Marketing firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- European Cities Marketing
- Legal name
- City Destinations Alliance
- Website
- https://europeancitiesmarketing.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA) is a European membership-based knowledge sharing alliance headquartered in Dijon, France, serving Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux, and Destination Management Organisations across European cities through research benchmarking, industry events, and peer networking.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
European Cities Marketing industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Tourism Industry Association Services
- NAICS
- Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Global Program Expansion, Localization & Regionalization (THACAMAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Customer/User Conferences & Client Advisory Boards (THAHAMAD)
Keywords
Where European Cities Marketing is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dijon
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
European Cities Marketing business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Membership Fees: The organization operates as a membership-based association with fees paid by Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux, and Destination Management Organisations across European cities. Members gain access to research data, benchmarking capabilities, networking platforms, and professional development programs.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels8 records
European Cities Marketing product offering
Product offeringCore offering
City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA, formerly European Cities Marketing) is a membership-based knowledge sharing alliance for European Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux and Destination Management Organisations. It provides members with benchmarking research, peer knowledge exchange through Knowledge Groups, an annual educational program (Summer School), industry conferences (Autumn Conference), sustainability and trend research publications, and strategic frameworks such as the Tórshavn Declaration.
Product overview
City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA) operates as a platform-plus-portfolio model comprising its core alliance brand, events programs, research publications, and strategic initiatives. The core offering centers on CityDNA as the unifying brand for European DMOs, CVBs, and destination management organisations, supported by the annual Summer School educational program and Autumn Conference networking events. Research capabilities include the City Travel Report and Trend Room Whitepaper series. Strategic initiatives encompass VivaCITY (sustainability), City Cards Map (destination products), and Trend Talks (future intelligence), all delivered through member knowledge groups focused on key destination management domains.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- CityDNA Summer School Annual five-day educational program for newcomers to the business events industry, running for nearly four decades. Targeted at young professionals and DMO/CVB staff seeking practical marketing and meetings industry skills.
- CityDNA Autumn Conference Annual flagship conference for CEOs and senior leaders of European city destinations, featuring walking workshops, dialogue-led sessions, and networking. Held in different European cities each year.
- CityDNA Knowledge Groups Ongoing working groups covering City Cards, Marketing & Communication, Meetings Industry, Research & Insights, Sustainability, Tourist Information Centres, and Trends. Serve as incubators for new ideas and ongoing best-practice exchange among member professionals.
- City Travel Report Annual research publication providing data on urban tourism volume in European cities, enabling benchmarking on volume and key source markets. Presents economic significance of urban tourism and provides members with statistics that 50% of them would otherwise lack.
- VivaCITY Initiative Sustainability initiative and whitepaper series exploring meaningful, transformative sustainability strategies for city destinations beyond metrics and certifications, produced in collaboration with Simpleview.
- City Cards Map European initiative mapping city cards across destinations, enabling best practices sharing and knowledge exchange among City Cards specialists to fine-tune product, communication and sales strategies.
- Trend Talks Trend intelligence platform featuring whitepapers and scenario workshops exploring future developments in tourism and urban destinations, including climate change scenarios through a 2035 horizon.
Quantifiable outcome
- For 50% of members who do not have their own research departments, City Destinations Alliance provides essential benchmarking and research data
Companies that use European Cities Marketing
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
European Cities Marketing technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
European Cities Marketing partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- SimpleviewcoreStrategic partnership for research and whitepaper development. Simpleview collaborates with CityDNA on the VivaCITY initiative, producing sustainability whitepapers including 'The Score is Not the Story' exploring meaningful sustainability strategies for destination leaders.
- ETFI (European Tourism Futures Institute)coreCollaborative research partnership for the Trend Room Whitepaper on Climate Change and the Future of Tourism. ETFI contributed findings from a scenario workshop exploring how climate change impacts will transform urban tourism destinations over 5-10 years (2035 time horizon).
- IMEX GroupcoreIndustry partnership for the business events sector. CityDNA focuses on collaboration, leadership and talent development during IMEX Frankfurt events. Faculty members from CityDNA participate in Summer School programming.
- Destination Verona & Garda Convention BureaucoreHost partner for CityDNA Autumn Conference 2026 in Verona. The conference theme 'Moving Together' explores visitor flows, mobility, accessibility, data, AI, governance and shared direction for European DMOs and CVBs.
- Destination DijoncoreHost partner for the 40th CityDNA Summer School 2026 in Dijon, France. Provides venue and local support for Europe's longest-running industry learning experience for business events professionals.
- The IcebergminorEditorial partnership with James Latham, Editor-in-Chief of The Iceberg, contributing to CityDNA Summer School as faculty on event legacy and long-term impact for destinations.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
European Cities Marketing competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE): Global association for the incentive travel industry, with members drawn from DMO, agency, and corporate backgrounds. Overlaps with CityDNA on Meetings Industry knowledge sharing and professional development.
- International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA): Global association for the international meetings and events industry, with a strong member base of convention bureaux and meeting suppliers. Directly overlaps with CityDNA's Meetings Industry Knowledge Group and Convention Bureau membership.
- European Travel Commission (ETC): European umbrella for national tourism organizations focused on promoting Europe as a destination. Comparable in member type (public tourism bodies) and pan-European scope, with overlapping research and benchmarking mandates.
- Destinations International: US-based association for destination marketing organizations (DMOs), CVBs, and tourism boards. Closest functional analog to CityDNA, providing research, education, advocacy, and an annual convention for city destinations — just operating primarily in North America.
- European Cities and Regions for Tourism (ECTN): European network of cities and regions for sustainable tourism development. Comparable mission (knowledge sharing, sustainable destination management) and overlapping member base of European cities and tourism bodies.
Broad incumbents
- UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): United Nations agency setting global tourism policy and producing international tourism statistics. Larger and more authoritative than CityDNA, but broader in scope and not focused specifically on urban/city destinations.
- World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC): Global industry council representing the travel and tourism private sector. Overlaps with CityDNA in research and sustainability advocacy (e.g., Glasgow Declaration), but WTTC is industry-wide and private-sector-led.
Others
- Simpleview: Leading DMO technology and CRM platform provider for destination marketing organizations. Strategic research partner of CityDNA on VivaCITY; represents the broader DMO software ecosystem that CityDNA's members rely on operationally.
Regional players
- European Festivals Association (EFA): European network promoting festivals and cultural events across cities. Adjacent peer that shares the European city-based cultural/tourism agenda but focuses on festivals rather than destination marketing.
- Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA): Membership association for the Asia-Pacific travel and tourism industry. Equivalent organizational role to CityDNA — knowledge sharing, research, events — but serving a different geography.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
European Cities Marketing social profiles
Digital presenceEuropean Cities Marketing financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
European Cities Marketing leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
European Cities Marketing funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
European Cities Marketing M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about European Cities Marketing
What does European Cities Marketing do?
City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA, formerly European Cities Marketing) is a membership-based knowledge sharing alliance for European Tourist Boards, Convention Bureaux and Destination Management Organisations. It provides members with benchmarking research, peer knowledge exchange through Knowledge Groups, an annual educational program (Summer School), industry conferences (Autumn Conference), sustainability and trend research publications, and strategic frameworks such as the Tórshavn Declaration.
Is European Cities Marketing a public or private company?
European Cities Marketing is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was European Cities Marketing founded?
European Cities Marketing was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is European Cities Marketing based?
European Cities Marketing is headquartered in Dijon, France, in the Europe region.
How does European Cities Marketing make money?
One revenue line is on record: membership Fees.
Who are European Cities Marketing's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE), International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), European Travel Commission (ETC), Destinations International and European Cities and Regions for Tourism (ECTN). Broad incumbents are UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Simpleview is listed as an others. Regional players are European Festivals Association (EFA) and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
Does European Cities Marketing have an API?
No public API is recorded for European Cities Marketing.
What industry is European Cities Marketing in?
European Cities Marketing's product category is Tourism Industry Association Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THACAMAK, Global Program Expansion, Localization & Regionalization, with a secondary code of THAHAMAD, Customer/User Conferences & Client Advisory Boards. Its NAICS code is 561591 and its SIC code is 8600.