Destination Marketing
Collaboration Drives Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable tourism has growing importance in the world of travel and tourism. As destinations grow in popularity, they need to collaborate closely with residents, local businesses, and tourists to ensure they are creating a meaningful experience for their visitors without causing a negative environmental impact. Why is Sustainable Tourism Important? Sustainable tourism is critical for…
Read MoreMain Street Marketing and Community Partnerships
The COVID-19 pandemic reignited a desire to support local businesses, and this doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. After the pandemic, an Intuit study found that 82 percent of consumers were willing to spend more money to support a local business. Tourists are looking to find small, hidden gems while they’re on vacation…
Read MoreLow-Cost Marketing Tools for Tourism Promotion
A successful destination marketing plan starts with strategy and is chock full of targeted tactics from social media to video, content marketing and more. The goal is to reach travelers and inspire visitation, the strategies and tactics are in place. But then what are the tools to accomplish it all? We’re going behind-the-scenes to look at…
Read More2022 Top Tourism Campaigns Bring Typing Ponies & Talking Kangaroos
This year saw us returning to travel in big ways, and the campaign ideas rose to match! We found some of the most creative, quirky, content-driven ideas out there and summed them up for this year. From Ryanair on TikTok to horses that will answer your emails. In no particular order, here are our picks…
Read MoreIncrease Foot Traffic with Motorcoach Business – 11 Ways to Become Group Ready
Working in the travel and tourism industry allows us to get to know organizations that rely on visitors to their communities to help grow their businesses. One way to reach those visitors and increase foot traffic is by marketing to the motorcoach industry. Motorcoaches bring groups of people to the businesses they visit. The COVID…
Read MoreCreating Experiences to Create Memories
At the 2017 NYSTIA Empire State Tourism Conference in Lake Placid, I was inspired by the overall theme of how to make a destination stand out that still stand true today. Bill Geist, DMOproz, talked about the importance of disrupting the status quo in order to drive brand awareness and visitors to your destination during…
Read MoreLooking Ahead: Tourism Marketing of the Future
Last week, I attended the Marketing Profs B2B Forum and it felt like a glimpse into the shiny future of marketing. In the not-so-distant future, tech tools will be speeding our work along like the moving sidewalks at an airport. I came away from the conference energized and ready to experiment with so many ideas,…
Read More10 Must-listen Podcasts for Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Professionals
This week I celebrate 6 years since I launched my podcast, Destination on the Left, an award-winning show focused on creativity and collaboration in the travel and tourism industry. This week also marks the airing of my 300th episode and more than 75,000 downloads, more milestone markers crossed! Since launching one of the first podcasts…
Read MoreFood for Thought: Inspirational Food Writing Tips for Destination Marketing
“I love how food has a magical power of bringing people closer together and breaking down barriers.”– Michelle Ng, episode 297, Destination on the Left Inspiration to travel can be sparked by alluring restaurant destinations. Since meals are a big part of any trip, writing about food in a way that inspires is key to…
Read MoreThe DMO of the Future
Everything we’ve gone through in the past few years has fast-forwarded the role of the DMO. It started to change shape, both to get through the pandemic and as a result of changes in our world. Many of these changes were already underway. We have been talking about place-making and destination management and cathedral thinking for…
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