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?

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?

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.

After everything that’s happened over the last few years, we began to ask ourselves – what is actually driving people to choose a city or region to visit or live in? Have the motivators for travel and relocation changed at all? Ipsos have been researching which factors matter most to Americans and Canadians in 2022 when selecting one location from another.

From uncovering your place DNA, to advocating for your work, to amplifying the voices of your locals, here are some of our favourite citizen engagement strategies to inspire your own approach.

To understand which areas are overlooked in developing and delivering a place brand strategy, we asked our place experts what they considered to be the most common mistakes made by cities, nations, and regions…