Moderator
Misa Labarile, PhD is a policy officer of the European Commission working on the development of EU policy in the tourism sector (Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport). For the past four years, Misa has worked on developing policies to enhance the uptake of digitalisation in tourism and to promote smart tourism management.
The host of the EU Smart Tourism podcast, she also manages the European Capital and Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism competition. She is now working on the new EU Strategy for Sustainable Tourism (2026). A linguist and social scientist by background, Misa began her career in communication.
She has then worked on EU affairs for more than fifteen years: at the European Commission, she has worked on social policies for youth and skills development, financial services and external relations before focusing on tourism.
She has served in the Cabinet of two Italian Prime Ministers advising on EU affairs, and worked in academic research on her PhD in politics in Milan, IT, and Boston, USA.