I love a good tourism conference. After nearly 25 years in the industry, I look forward to connecting with friends and colleagues who understand the unique things we do and the challenges we face as place marketers.
The conversations and educational sessions I’ve been a part of in just the past few weeks — at TTRA’s Marketing Outlook Forum and Destinations International’s Marketing & Communications Summit — have revealed many common threads and trends at play for destination marketers in 2025. While there is an undercurrent of uncertainty, it is equally matched by the creativity and determination that makes destination marketers so great at promoting the world’s places.
Here are three of my top takeaways, along with some recommendations for leaning on your data resources:
At TTRA’s Marketing Outlook Forum, industry leaders from multiple organizations spoke to the resiliency of the travel and tourism industry. Entering 2025 with a new political administration brings plenty of uncertainty and change, but consumers continue to prioritize travel — even if it may look slightly different.
Among the 250+ destinations Zartico works with, many saw shifts in visitation patterns during the second half of 2024, including an increase in the share of in-state or regional visitors.
Data → Action: Monitor visitation patterns, including changes in the share of out-of-state and in-state visitors, and focus on which regional or drive markets produce higher quality visits, marked by overnight stays, higher visitor spending, or engagement with key areas of your destination. Use these insights to inform marketing strategies and test opportunities to drive demand from nearby markets.
Both events I attended featured multiple sessions discussing AI best practices and use cases. This moment in the industry feels a lot like where we were in 2009 or 2010 with social media marketing. Destination marketers know they need to embrace AI but are unsure where to start. One approach that we’ve heard several clients taking is to begin with website and blog content, crafting it to be AI-friendly.
Data → Action: Zartico data shows that website traffic, especially organic traffic, is down across many of our clients. This decrease is, in part, due to the Google AI overview that appears in search results, contributing to fewer click-throughs. Revisit your content, optimizing it to appear in these automated summaries. Think of search overviews as yet another content channel, and adjust the website KPIs you report to account for these shifts.
Destination leaders are no strangers to scrutiny, and this year it’s more important than ever to clearly and consistently tell the story of your visitor economy. Communicate the impact the organization’s work has on the whole community’s quality of life, and do so in ways that a varied audience — from business owners to elected officials to local residents — can understand and get behind.
Data → Action: Curate the insights that matter most to your stakeholders, such as the share of local business spending contributed by visitors or the share of visitor spending to restaurants, hotels, attractions, etc. Seek out insights that help your audience connect the dots between your efforts and visitor behaviors. Zartico’s new Digital Campaign Optimization tool ties ad impressions to actual visits and destination lift, delivering a holistic view of your marketing’s valuable impact.
Establish a strong foundation of reliable data insights, and you can tailor your marketing and communications for whatever challenge you face. Learn more about the Zartico Destination Operating System (ZDOS®).
With nearly 25 years in the tourism industry, Katie has extensive experience in destination marketing, following tenures at Visit Austin and Simpleview. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Texas Travel Alliance Board of Directors.