From 16 to 18 June, destination leaders, sustainability practitioners, policymakers, and changemakers from around the world are invited to Szczecin, Poland, for GDS-Forum and Impact Day 2026.
Hosted by the Global Destination Sustainability Movement (GDS-Movement) in collaboration with #MEET4IMPACT, the City of Szczecin, the Szczecin Convention Bureau, the Polish Tourism Organisation, and the Poland Convention Bureau, the event positions the visitor economy as a strategic driver of long-term urban, social, and environmental transformation.
A catalytic gathering for cities in transition
GDS-Forum and Impact Day is not a traditional conference. It is designed as a strategic catalyst, creating the conditions for alignment, shared purpose, and collective action across sectors.
At the core is a clear impact ambition: to enable destinations and cities to use tourism and business events as credible tools for sustainability, regeneration, and public value. The programme is structured around participatory workshops, systems dialogue, peer exchange, and applied learning, replacing passive attendance with active contribution and shared accountability.
The 2026 theme: “Better Together”
“Better Together” reflects the reality that today’s challenges cannot be solved by individual organisations, sectors, or generations acting independently. It calls for better collaboration across the public and private sectors, between residents and industry, and experienced leaders and emerging talent.
Through open dialogue and mindful co-creation, participants move from shared understanding to practical action in an iterative, 3-day process, turning regenerative ambition into outcomes that can scale and endure.
From alignment to action: an impact-led design
The impact strategy for GDS-Forum and Impact Day is built around one foundational pathway and four operational impact pathways.
At its foundation are stakeholder alignment and impact governance, ensuring that city priorities, destination strategies, and event activity are aligned, legitimate, and mutually reinforcing.
The four operational pathways focus on:
– Building capacity for sustainable and regenerative tourism and events so ambition translates into consistent practice
– Youth leadership and future talent, positioning young people as active contributors to city transformation
– Destination positioning and attraction, aligning international visibility with real sustainability performance
– Leveraging the visitor economy for city transformation, ensuring tourism and events actively support urban regeneration, identity, and quality of life for residents
The design and impact framework of GDS-Forum and Impact Day 2026 is developed in alignment with European Union policy priorities on sustainable tourism, destination resilience, and climate transition, reinforcing the role of tourism and events as legitimate instruments of public value and long-term, urban transformation.
Guy Bigwood, CEO of the Global Destination Sustainability Movement, said: “GDS-Forum and Impact Day exist to help destinations and leaders move from intent to impact. Our focus is transformation through accountability, action, and radical collaboration. ‘Better Together’ reflects a simple truth: none of us can meet today’s challenges alone, but together we can accelerate real, measurable change.”
Designed for impact
“Better Together” is also reflected in the way the event itself is delivered. GDS-Forum and Impact Day 2026 is co-created through a close collaboration between GDS-Movement, #MEET4IMPACT, the City of Szczecin, Szczecin Convention Bureau, Polish Tourism Organisation, and the Poland Convention Bureau. They bring together global thought leadership on sustainability, deep expertise in impact and legacy, and a host city and country actively using events as a lever for long-term urban and community transformation. This partnership embodies the belief that meaningful change in tourism and events happens not in isolation, but when cities, organisers, and impact practitioners work together around shared intentional goals.
The global community of tourism, event, and association professionals is invited to Szczecin to help build the city’s growing regenerative capacity and ambitions, while strengthening impact across destinations worldwide.
Szczecin: A host city that welcomes radical collaboration
Just two hours from Berlin, Szczecin is a post-industrial city in active reinvention. Shaped by water, industry, and decades of change, it is transforming its industrial legacy into a regenerative future guided by its Floating Garden vision, a water‑based metropolis that integrates natural and developed aspects. By hosting GDS-Forum and Impact Day 2026, Szczecin positions itself as a living laboratory for how cities can align tourism, events, ecology, and culture and civic life to support long-term transformation.
Applications for the 2026 GDS-Awards open soon
The GDS-Awards Ceremony, taking place on 17 June 2026, will recognise cities, destinations and individuals demonstrating leadership in regeneration, innovation, and impact, with 3 application-based awards.
The awards ceremony will announce:
The GDS-Movement and #MEET4IMPACT Impact Award, which acknowledges and celebrates a destination management organisation committed to legacy and impact through business events.
The GDS-Movement Innovation Award, which recognises and showcases a destination using innovative solutions to drive sustainability performance. The new GDS-Movement Changemaker Award, which recognises an individual professional who has made an outstanding contribution to advancing regeneration within a destination.
Find out more about the event here.
