The European conference “Sustainable Tourism Models for New Realities” will take place on 4 November 2026 at the Château de Bouteville, near Cognac, France, bringing together tourism professionals, public authorities, researchers and destination representatives from across the Atlantic Area.

Organised by Atlantic Cities and Grand Cognac, the event serves as the closing conference of the POST—Polycentric Sustainable Tourism—project, co-funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme. Participants from France, Portugal, Ireland and Spain will exchange experiences and discuss responses to changing tourism conditions.

A central theme will be how polycentric tourism can distribute visitor flows more evenly and extend development opportunities across coastal and inland destinations, including urban and rural areas. The conference will also present POST’s principal findings and its strategy for developing a more diversified and geographically balanced tourism model.

The programme includes a keynote address on the new European tourism strategy by Maximilian Strotmann, representing the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, who will participate online. Panel discussions will examine tourism challenges from a territorial perspective, approaches to managing visitor flows and the practical implementation of polycentric tourism.

Contributors include representatives of destinations in France, Portugal and Ireland, alongside tourism experts and development organisations. Dr James Hanrahan, Director of the Sustainable Tourism Observatory at Atlantic Technological University, will moderate the afternoon discussion on translating the concept into practice. French–English interpretation will be provided.

The main congress will run from 09:00 to 16:30, followed by a visit to the Cognac POST pilot site. A networking reception is scheduled for the evening of 3 November, and shuttle transport between central Cognac and the conference venue will be available.

Participation is free, with advance registration required.

Register for the conference | View the full programme