Plenary - Connected Tourism Mobility: Managing Visitor Flows and Liveability in European Cities

Tourism is increasingly a mobility and public space stress test for Europe’s cities: seasonal peaks and event surges create concentrated demand on public transport, roads and walking networks; coaches and cruise flows compete for scarce curbside and kerb space; and historic centres often lack the physical capacity to absorb traffic without undermining safety, air quality and resident liveability. This plenary reframes “tourism strategy” as “mobility governance”: how cities anticipate visitor flows, manage peaks and access, and steer mode choices towards public transport, walking and cycling while maintaining reliable everyday mobility for residents and workers. The discussion will be aligned with the Commission’s EU Sustainable Tourism Strategy (2026) priorities, tackling overcrowding, improving cross border connectivity, strengthening digital and green skills, and reinforcing competitiveness and resilience. Speakers will focus on what cities can implement: coach management and access rules; park-and-ride/shuttle design; integrated visitor information and ticketing; targeted public transport capacity upgrades; and governance models linking transport authorities, tourism boards, heritage bodies and police/traffic management. The session will draw on implementation evidence from EU-supported city practice, including lessons from CIVITAS tourism and mobility actions addressing seasonal pressure on local transport systems.