Marc Angel, LCTO President;
Credit: Yevgenia Doluda
The second Luxembourg Tourism Summit took place at the Mudam Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg-Kirchberg on Thursday 13 June 2024, with 130 attendees from a myriad of professional sectors and countries, highlighting Luxembourg's international community and desire to improve tourism sustainably.
The event, organised by the Luxembourg City Tourist Office (LCTO), was opened with an introductory speech from the President of the LCTO, Marc Angel, who praised the efforts of his colleagues and staff. He then went on to present the key themes of this year's summit: the transformative power of artificial intelligence and the importance of sustainability practices. Having been recently re-elected for his position as Vice-President in the European Parliament, he emphasised the importance of such events for their focus on inclusivity and social sustainable economy in the tourism sector.
The audience was also greeted by Maurice Bauer, Chief Alderman of the City of Luxembourg, who applauded the city's efforts in touristic growth and simultaneous prioritisation of sustainability. He pointed out the great responsibilities that come with being the eighth most sustainable city in the world where 71% of the residents are non-Luxembourgish. In his view, Luxembourg is a unique place for "collaborative learning and exchange of ideas". Following this, a short introduction was made by Serge Wilmes, Minister of Environment, Climate and Biodiversity. He urged the participants to ponder on "the possibilities to join tourism with protection and restoration of nature" whilst enjoying the event's programme.
The summit's official host and Director of Luxembourg City Tourist Office, Antje Voss, took the stage presenting the Legacy of the Luxembourg Tourism Summit by unveiling survey results showing the impact of such events. In doing so, she highlighted the gap between information availability and engagement, a topic later discussed by one of the keynote speakers Professor Xavier Font.
Ms.Voss continued by mentioning Luxembourg's growing number of sustainable initiatives which help ensure that "every visit to Luxembourg City resonates and leaves a lasting impression" on the visitors. However, she also stressed the importance of the local community and introduction of positive change among residents and visitors alike. The welcoming speeches all concluded with hopes to excite some "fruitful discussions" among panellists and participants.
Signe Jungersted, CEO and Founding Partner of Group Nao, acted as a moderator and encouraged conversations among the summit's multi-national attendees.
The programme featured 5 keynote speakers from various countries and backgrounds. Professor Xavier Font from University of Surrey spoke about sustainability marketing and communication in his morning presentation. Janie Neumann, Senior Changemaker at Global Destination Sustainability Movement gave a presentation about her work, whilst Leena Lassila from Helsinki Partners talked about some of the major sustainability takeaways from Finland's capital.
The afternoon featured a thematic presentation from Professor Dr.Roman Egger and Joshua Ryan-Saha talking about the future of artificial intelligence in the tourism business and practices, as well as the precautions that must be considered with using new technology. The last keynote presentation was given by science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar, followed by a roundtable discussion with all the panellists.
