Schedule

As the way people discover, plan, and experience travel continues to evolve, so does the role of the welcome center. Today's travelers expect personalized experiences, authentic connections, and seamless digital tools alongside meaningful face-to-face interactions. Once viewed primarily as information stops, welcome centers are becoming strategic gateways that shape first impressions, inspire exploration, and support local communities. Join destination leaders for a peer-to-peer discussion on what's next. Together, we'll explore emerging trends, innovative ideas, and practical approaches that can help shape the next generation of welcome centers.

Our goal is simple: Everyone leaves with a fresh perspective, meaningful connections, and at least one practical idea they can take back and apply in their own destination.

As resident sentiment, public scrutiny and political pressure continue to grow, destination organizations can no longer afford to engage communities only during moments of controversy or crisis. Building long-term trust now requires intentional storytelling, stronger local relationships and a clearer connection between tourism and community value. This peer-to-peer roundtable will explore how destination leaders are building resident support over time through local media engagement, civic pride initiatives, internal communications and community-centered strategies — before they need public buy-in most.

Takeaways: 

• Build   Trust Proactively: Explore how destination organizations are building long-term resident trust and community support before challenges arise.
• Strengthen Community Ties: Share approaches for strengthening civic pride, local storytelling and community engagement as part of a broader destination strategy.
• Demonstrate Value: Discuss how organizations are measuring resident sentiment, navigating public scrutiny and demonstrating tourism’s value to local communities.

Visit Lake Charles evolved from a traditional tourism marketer into the strategic marketing and communications arm for Just Imagine SWLA, proving how DMOs can support community-led initiatives without losing focus on visitation, brand, or mission. This session explores how DMOs can responsibly step into deeper community roles when the opportunity aligns.

Takeaways:

• Evaluate community initiatives using a practical decision framework to determine when deeper DMO involvement aligns with mission, brand, and visitation goals—and when to say no. 
• Implement governance and role-definition tools that establish clear boundaries, accountability, and expectations, protecting the DMO’s core   mission while supporting community-led efforts.
• Apply a scalable communications-first framework to support community initiatives through marketing, storytelling, and earned media without absorbing ownership or operational drift.

How do you evolve a legacy brand without losing what makes it iconic—especially when multiple destinations are involved? Using Route 66 as a case study, this session goes beyond campaign execution to explore how Oklahoma is navigating the complexity of modernizing a historic brand across state, city, and smaller destination partners. From aligning 11 smaller destinations around a shared vision (“The 100 Greatest Miles”) to balancing local priorities with statewide strategy, we’ll unpack the real challenges behind collaboration, brand consistency, and decision-making.

Takeaways:

Attendees will walk away with practical insight into how to:

• Align multiple stakeholders around a single brand vision.
• Balance legacy storytelling with modern traveler expectations.
• Manage tradeoffs between local control and regional impact.
• Execute a cohesive strategy across destinations of different sizes.

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.

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.

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.

Events are often judged by attendance numbers, but attendance alone doesn’t tell the full story. As destinations face increasing pressure to justify investments, recruit the right opportunities, and demonstrate value to stakeholders, many are asking: Which events create the greatest value? How should success be measured? And what information is needed to make smarter event decisions?

Join this interactive roundtable discussion as we explore how destinations are evaluating event performance, defining event value, and identifying opportunities that align with their goals. Participants will share challenges, best practices, and emerging approaches to event measurement and strategy.