Schedule

What does it take to get travelers to invest emotionally in a place— where being a “responsible guest” feels like insider access and naturally the thing to do? This session breaks down Look Out for ME, Maine’s visitor education initiative rooted in Leave No Trace principles and taking care of yourself, while going beyond just nature to being respectful of the culture, communities, people and working landscapes as well – the things that make Maine (or a place?) special. Learn about the evolution of the initiative, outreach to key partners and stakeholders and early campaign successes.

Takeaways:

• Develop a pre-arrival digital and social strategy that educates visitors early, aligning expectations, protecting local assets and reinforcing long-term destination stewardship.
• Strengthen cross-agency and partner collaboration to avoid duplication, amplify aligned initiatives to deliver clear, cohesive sustainability messaging.
• Develop communications plan to engage industry stakeholders. 
• Leverage PR and paid media to extend reach and drive measurable results.

In a follow-up to last year's popular session, Amir Eylon will return to the stage and seed the conversation with some timely leisure travel insights and travel trends facing DMO's and challenge the audience to discuss how they have been, are, or can apply these insights into their marketing efforts!

Takeaways: 

• Some quick and actionable insights about   American leisure travelers. 
• Actionable applied ideas from their peers.
• Inspired ideation of solutions   among the roundtables.

DMOs are under pressure to adopt AI, yet many lack a clear path from experimentation to operational impact. This peer-to-peer roundtable grounds the conversation in Visit Mesa’s AI roadmap, including what worked and what did not. Then the session shifts to facilitated discussion so attendees can compare approaches, address stakeholder expectations, connect AI efforts to ROI, and identify realistic next steps they can implement immediately.

Takeaways: 

• Evaluate where your DMO is on the AI adoption spectrum.
• Prioritize AI efforts based on organizational readiness, value, and capacity.
• Identify concrete next steps to advance AI adoption responsibly within your organization.

When a destination’s narrative shifts—whether due to a wildfire, a sudden political controversy, or a blow to its public reputation—the first 24 hours are the most critical. In this high-stakes session, leaders from Chicago and Santa Monica pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to move from "crisis mode" to "community-first" action in less than half a day. 

We’ll explore how Chicago launched a massive brand platform in under 12 hours and how Santa Monica balanced resident safety with global destination reputation during a regional emergency. We will discuss the evolution of the PR mandate: the shift from defensive statements to a "trust-first" model that activates residents and partners as primary narrators. Attendees will leave with a readiness playbook designed to build stakeholder trust, maintain transparency, and turn urgent disruptions into enduring platforms for recovery.

Takeaways: 

• Reframing PR as a Leadership Function: Move communications from a "support role" to a strategic driver, equipping teams to align visitor promotion with community priorities in real-time.
• The Stakeholder Trust Architecture: Analyze the engagement tactics that keep local leadership and residents on your side, ensuring the destination emerges stronger and more resilient post-crisis.
• Turning Urgency into Endurance: Learn how to transition a rapid-response campaign into a lasting brand platform (e.g., social, PR, and long-form content) that continues to drive value for years.
• Failure Analysis from the Crisis Vault: A candid review of past "missteps"—from misinformation gaps to misaligned KPIs—and the specific tactical shifts made to build today’s resilient frameworks.

Most travel is driven by an invitation, not advertising. Before a visitor ever steps foot in your destination, your residents have already set the tone. If local perception lags behind reality, your biggest marketing asset—the community—remains untapped. This session explores how Philadelphia and Buffalo moved beyond traditional tourism ads to build "place brands" from the inside out. Using Philadelphia’s "sports-fandom" strategy as a blueprint, we’ll hear how to treat a city like a team to unlock genuine resident advocacy. Then, we’ll dive into the tactical execution from Buffalo’s rebrand, showing how to secure community buy-in through high-visibility, locally rooted activations—from ice sculptures and murals to transit wraps and temporary tattoos. Learn how to transform your residents from skeptics into a mobilized force of brand ambassadors who invite, energize, and advocate for your destination.

Takeaways: 

• Master a practical framework that connects resident pride directly to visitor growth. We’ll show how shifting your focus inward improves the visitor   experience on the ground and turns locals into a high-conversion "invitation engine" that outperforms traditional advertising.
• Learn a repeatable method to uncover your destination’s “shared local truth” — the emotional connector that locals already rally around   (Philadelphia’s is fandom; each destination’s may be something entirely different).
• We'll provide examples of scalable, low-to-mid-cost activation ideas that can be adapted by destinations of varying sizes to build community buy-in and visibility.
• We'll provide guidance on how to track shifts in resident price and downstream performance.

By 2030, accessibility will no longer be a niche consideration—it will be a defining factor in how travelers choose destinations. As the population ages and traveler expectations evolve, destinations must move beyond isolated initiatives and begin embedding accessibility into planning, marketing, visitor experience, and destination development. This interactive session will explore how destination leaders are preparing for this shift and what it means for their organizations today. Through expert insights, peer discussion, and real-world examples, attendees will examine how accessibility influences destination competitiveness, visitor trust, and long-term growth. Participants will leave with practical ideas for advancing accessibility within their own organizations, regardless of budget, staffing, or current level of maturity.

Takeaways: 

•  Understand the demographic and traveler trends driving accessibility as a strategic priority.
• Learn how leading destinations are integrating accessibility into planning, marketing, and visitor     experience.
• Explore practical approaches for advancing accessibility within real-world budget and staffing constraints.
• Identify opportunities to build trust and serve a broader audience without tokenizing accessibility efforts.

If your community is asking, “Why are we doing another tourism plan?” or “Is this just going to collect dust?”, then it’s time to reset the conversation. Creating the plan matters, but implementation is what actually drives change. This roundtable session is infused with a panel to help participants focus on how to move beyond the document and use the strategic plan as a practical, everyday tool to align partners, guide decisions and actually get s**t done.

Takeaways:

• Apply best practices to build implementation steps into the strategic planning process.
• Institute steps to hold strategic planners, the destination organization, and community stakeholders accountable for delivering impactful results.
• Establish communication and follow-up to report success stories and challenges as part of the effort to strengthen community involvement and support.

Destinations face pressure to justify tourism funding but rely on outdated metrics that miss full community value. The Arizona Office of Tourism shares real-world experience transforming impact into data stories that win support from boards, officials, and residents. Attendees will co-create communication plans for scenarios like overtourism, resident sentiment, or political headwinds—leaving with actionable frameworks to implement immediately in their own communities.

Takeaways: 

• Connect their current strategy to measurable tourism objectives.
• Identify other sources of data to include in their reporting beyond social media impressions and taxes.
• Develop a draft communications plan tailored for different audiences with specific storytelling tactics.