X. Design Week 2026
Digital Tourism Think Tank
Zone · The Debating Room

The Debating Room

Where the industry's hardest questions are unpacked in the open. The Debating Room explores each topic from opposing viewpoints, intentionally challenging assumptions to push the conversation further. Expect provocative ideas, genuine disagreement and the kind of robust insights that rarely surfaces in conventional panel discussions. The Debating Room is led by Brian Harte.

The Debating Room
Four Rotations

Where The Debating Room goes across the two days

01
groups
AI Readiness, Workflow & Knowledge Systems

AI's Impact on Teams & Content

Is the real barrier to AI in destinations people, not technology? Is AI just producing more content of low quality? Arguments from both sides, with devil's advocate questions on whether a training day changes anything and what it says about your brand if your AI content is indistinguishable from everyone else's.

Tuesday 2 June · Morning
02
balance
AI Governance & Strategy

Innovation or Protection

Does governance slow AI adoption or make it sustainable? Do AI governance committees need AI sceptics as a check against the champions? Provocative questions on whether your audience actually reads disclosure labels and whether transparency creates more problems than it solves.

Tuesday 2 June · Afternoon
03
visibility
AI Discoverability & Presence

Being Tactical with AI Visibility

Should destinations align AI visibility with strategy or with demand? Strategy means setting bold objectives in new markets. Demand means showing up when visitors are searching. Provocative challenges on whether hidden gems content harms the destination and whether GEO makes overtourism worse.

Wednesday 3 June · Morning
04
construction
AI Interfaces & User Experience

Deciding What to Build

Should destinations build AI platforms themselves, or focus on providing high-quality data for others to build on? Real examples surface the harder strategic questions on what the desired set of solutions looks like and how to avoid hyper-fragmentation.

Wednesday 3 June · Afternoon