How is the world of travel and tourism changing? Before she joins us as one of the City Nation Place Awards judges, Gloria Loree, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer for Destination Canada, outlines how a loyalty programme created the space to re-engage prospective travellers in the country, how Destination Canada are collaborating with their Indigenous Tourism partners, and a few of her personal predictions for the future.

It is easy to make a strong case for why DMOs must lead the charge for climate action in this decade and beyond. However, it’s fair to say that, aside from some notable front-runners, DMOs are still learning what it takes to demonstrate leadership and meaningful action in this space.

In 2017, Courmayeur launched a new brand design identity to capture the spirit of the town and its history. Discover the process behind the wordmark here.

Last week, Sheffield announced the launch of a new campaign – Sheffield Your University City - created in collaboration between Sheffield Council’s marketing body and the city’s two universities. We caught up with the masterminds behind the innovative collaboration to understand more about the journey and what they learned along the way.

Your diaspora can be a hugely positive force in how you build your reputation and amplify your values. We spoke with Diane Edwards, President of Jamaica Promotions Corporation [JAMPRO] and one of our 2022 City Nation Place Awards judges, to understand how they engage the Jamaican diaspora in the economic development of their home nation. 

Julie Coker, President & CEO of San Diego Tourism Authority, outlines how they're helping event organizers navigate the new normal post-COVID and what you can do to connect your visitors to the lifeblood of your city.

We know how busy the life of a place brand and marketing leader is. Which is why we reached out to our partners for the 2022 Americas conference to get their top line coverage of the discussion – ensuring you’re up to date on all the latest topics in an easily digestible format.

So with no further ado, here we go…

Airports have always been key selling points in tourist and economic attractiveness strategies. Which country, city or region has never boasted itself of having air access? Yet, the global crises and their persistent effects on air travelling have called into question the role of these major infrastructures. As we rebuild, can airports become essential assets in the attractiveness and branding of destinations?

We’re delighted to have Liina Maria Lepik, Director of the Estonian Tourist Board, as one of our judges for the City Nation Place Awards. Ahead of the judging, we caught up with her to understand how Estonia’s place brand connects different stakeholders under a single brand vision, and how they’re talking about their sustainable values.

From a viral karaoke song to a tongue-in-cheek take on the Metaverse, Iceland’s campaigns regularly catch the attention of the world. But what happens behind the scenes to create this success? Sveinn Birkir Björnsson, Director of Global Marketing Communications at Business Iceland, shares his expertise – and gives an insight into what he’d be looking for as a member of our 2022 City Nation Place Awards jury.

The findings of the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) which measures 117 economies on a range of tourism and travel related indicators and policies, has been published by the World Economic Forum today. What does it mean for how the tourism and travel sector can recover?

People didn't have a perception of Norwich at all, and that needed to change in order for the city to compete with other UK honeypot destinations. Enter Norwich's place brand strategy to be the City of Stories.

It’s always a challenge to summarise a day and a half’s worth of content into a single article (the wine at the after party almost certainly didn’t help!), but here are our key takeaways from the conference.

Many DMOs are searching for a new model as they emerge from the COVID rubble and start to think of building back for the longer term. Some leaders in our sector have brought out strategies announcing a “stewardship” approach but are now realising more fundamental change is needed to enable their destinations to thrive in the 21^st Century.

Emojis have revolutionized communications in a similar way that the text message did. Not forgetting that the text message was a Finnish invention – so why wouldn’t Finland be the first country to launch its own official emojis as well?