OPENING – DAY 1 DSTNCMP²⁴

ON MAY 21, 2024, BY WOLFGANG WEILER

DSTNCMP²⁴An Oscar-worthy opening.

This time, Mathieu Almaric—aka Green—and his villains from the secret organization Quantum were really out of luck: Unlike in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace, which was shot in Bregenz, these bad guys weren’t just up against Daniel Craig—aka James Bond. In May 2024, he also had the heads of netzvitamine on his side—and they brought along around 280 participants from the DSTNCMP²⁴ . Where the villains had been chasing Bond in 2008, in 2024 they were fleeing from the overwhelming force of Austrian, Swiss, South Tyrolean, and German tourism professionals.

The way netzvitamine managing directors Benjamin Buhl and Stefan Möhler opened the 14th DestinationCamp at the Festspielhaus on Lake Constance in Bregenz on May 21, 2024, in a video presentation was almost Oscar-worthy.

SECONDDSTNCMP IN AUSTRIA

The capital of Vorarlberg is the second Austrian venue —after Kufstein in Tyrol— to host this major industry event in the German-speaking tourism sector. Through Friday, May 24, tourism professionals, experts, platform representatives, and consultants of all genders will address the diverse challenges facing German-speaking and cross-border tourism.

On the opening afternoon, seven moderation teams each gave three-minute pitches featuring highly original and artistically sophisticated presentations to win over the participants. Participants can choose from 32 two-hour sessions on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

Topics include artificial intelligence in tourism, the challenges of sustainable environmental management, the future viability of destinations, a focus on the common good, mobility and accessibility, marketing trends, innovations, and the requirements for interregional and transnational cooperation.

BREGENZ BENEFITS FROM AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

In his welcoming remarks, Mayor Michael Ritsch pointed out that “borders are virtually nonexistent on Lake Constance, the ‘Sea of Three Countries,’” and that transnational cooperation is very well organized in many areas of economic life. Now, he said, it is time to work together to overcome the challenges of the climate crisis.

Four years ago, Bregenz declared a climate emergency and aims to be climate-neutral by 2030. He therefore particularly welcomed the fact that the DSTNCMP²⁴ will also contribute to its status as a Green Meeting City.

Gerhard Stübe, managing director of Kongresskultur Bregenz and director of the Festspielhaus, also emphasized the importance of supraregional and transnational networks in his welcoming remarks: “This city of 30,000 residents welcomes up to 400,000 visitors during the Seefestspiele in the summer and organizes 220 to 250 events between August and May. Without the international network centered around Lake Constance, this would be unthinkable for Bregenz.”

Host Bernhard "Börnie" Lingg presided over the opening ceremony with his usual eloquence and explained the schedule for the coming days. A quick survey revealed that nearly half of the participants were attending DestinationCamp for the first time.

In addition to the 28 sessions organized into seven thematic tracks, participants in the DSTNCMPcan look forward to²⁴ additional two-hour sessions in the mornings from the netzvitamineAKADEMIE, in which netzvitamine partners share “Knowledge-to-Go.” Consulting, sales, and technology companies have been supporting this industry event as sponsors, in some cases for more than ten years.

DATA MUST BE USED TO LEAD TO LEAD TO DECISIONS

Instead of a keynote address,an“opening talk” brought this year’s opening event to a close. Urs Treuthardt, Philipp Lehner, and Harald Katzmair discussedthe importance of data for “better” decisions.

Urs Treuthardt served as managing director of Bodensee-Vorarlberg Tourismus until 2023 and is now the owner of “Begegnungsagentur” occursus, an agency for decision-makers. Social scientist Harald Katzmair is the founder and managing director of FAS Research, an analysis and consulting firm based in Vienna. Philipp Lehner, a third-generation family business owner, is the CEO of ALPLA, one of the world’s largest companies in plastic packaging and recycling, with 23,000 employees in 47 countries.

The bottom line: The problem isn't a lack of data, but the inability to make use of it. Philipp Lehner:

Hours-long meetings often result in nothing but words. However, it is important to base decisions on data and translate those decisions into action.

UNLIKE AI PEOPLE CAN USE UNFOCUSED DATA

It is true that one could always aggregate or purchase more data. However, this offers no advantages as long as it remains unclear how the data should be used. The strength of humans, on the other hand, lies in their ability to “make use of even ‘fuzzy’ data.”

The real challenge lies in deriving decisions from data and translating those decisions into action. Harald Katzmair:“AI is a powerful tool. But I can’t ask it what I should want. A prompt only works if I know what I want.”

According to Philipp Lehner, the fact that ALPLA developed an innovative product based on data is “more of an exception. But we use data to support upcoming decisions. And whether it was a good decision is evident from the results.”

3-PERCENT RULE LEADS TO INCREMENTAL GROWTH

All three spoke in favor ofa 3-percent rule: "We shouldn't always think in all-or-nothing terms. If decisions consistently lead to results that are three percent better, that's an incremental improvement."

With regard to tourism, the conclusion was: When interpreting destination-specific data, one needs the “courage to draw one’s own conclusions from it and forge one’s own path. Only when we perceive our actions as coherent can we act in a sustainable manner.”

A CONVIVIAL EVENING AT THE GOLDEN HIRSCH

After the long round of applause and the group photo in the foyer of the Festspielhaus, the social part of the opening day began: A short walk along the shore of Lake Constance under a cloudy sky—now rain-free—led the tourism professionals to Vorarlberg’s oldest inn, “Zum Goldenen Hirschen,” in the city center.

All four of the Kinz family’s restaurants, located in the carefully renovated and partially redesigned 14th-century historic building, were quickly taken over by the participants. Later, the same was true of their Kinz wine bar across the street and the street in between. Around midnight, most of the participants moved on to one of Bregenz’s bars, which had been specially set up for the DSTNCMP²⁴ by the travel guide app plazy .