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As it turns out, what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay there. I had the pleasure of recently attending this year’s eTourism Summit, held at the Wynn in Las Vegas. Outside of mingling with change makers in tourism, I had the chance to catch up on some of the latest insights and trends in the destination space. The takeaway? Destinations that are doing it right are the ones leaning into smart tech, social buzz, and storytelling to turn visitors into travelers and advocates.
Here’s what’s capturing imaginations and flight bookings according to the industry’s most innovative experts.
Set-jetting: Lights, camera, bookings!
Have you ever binged a show and thought, “I need to go there”? You’re not alone. Set jetting—travel inspired by favorite TV and movie locations—is fueling serious tourism. (For Chicagoans, you’ve totally been asked to take out-of-town guests to Mr. Beef because of The Bear, for example). Milwaukee saw a Top Chef-powered boost by leaning into the city’s culinary cred and showcasing the city as a storytelling backdrop for the Bravo show. Visit Milwaukee worked with Adara and Samba TV to literally track viewers as they watched, Googled, and booked.
- 66% of people admit TV tempted them to travel.
- Top Chef’s Milwaukee season drove $39.7M in hotel revenue and 120K bookings (and Milwaukee got its moment as a culinary contender).
- Milwaukee’s all-star cameo even got support from the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, proving a destination should always be ready for its close-up.
The panel also spoke to the power of elevating partners to support local businesses and authentically approach storytelling. TV entertainment, fueling the local economy, and inspiring wanderlust—it’s a win for everyone.
Takeaway: Headline-making productions are golden tickets. If a camera crew calls, break out the red carpet and your attribution tools.
Influencer marketing means epic activations
If you think influencer campaigns are just about impossibly curated content and hopping on the TikTok trend of the week, think again. Pigeon Forge recently shook things up with their Family Challenge, sending influencer families to experience local attractions (with a little help from the queen Dolly Parton herself). The result? Viral YouTube content, massive social engagement, and a community-wide spotlight.
- 300K+ YouTube views and 4,000+ watch hours
- Star power (thanks, Dolly!) and authentic partnerships with homegrown businesses
Discover Puerto Rico and Steller showed the power of influencers moving travelers from inspiration to booking. In their recent campaign, Discover Puerto Rico engaged with 20 influencers during the holiday season, a time of year in which islanders take pride in celebrating from Thanksgiving to mid-January. Each influencer told their own travel story with unique perspectives, resulting in not just a 45% increase in time on site but delivered a whopping $3.2M economic impact in just a year. One other tidbit from the panel we loved was Discover Puerto Rico’s mantra of striving to be the first, best or only when it comes to marketing initiatives. Words to live by!
TikTok and Visit Daytona Beach teamed up to showcase how TravelTok has become an itinerary-building, language-transcending, cross-generational engagement machine for travelers. While Gen Z have been early adopters, Visit Daytona Beach has seen huge success with Gex X and Millennials via TikTok with an astonishing 270M impressions. It was also exciting to see how the tool’s Creator Exchange is bringing influencers and destinations together faster than you can say #VacationVibes.
Takeaway: It’s not just who you bring to your destination, but how you activate them to inspire potential travelers. Making it authentic, local, and shareable can have major booking and economic impact.
Sustainability: Smarter, greener, and kinder tourism
Overtourism isn’t just a buzzword but a real issue for many destinations. Enter: creative, sustainable tourism strategies. Leading national and international DMOs are getting creative:
- Atout France: Everyone flocks Paris for its world-famous Eiffel Tour, museums, and cafe life, but the crowds can make access to top attractions almost impossible. As a result, there’s been major efforts to inspire visitors to explore lesser-visited cities like Lyon and Nice to bring tourism dollars to local economies throughout the country.
- Failte Ireland: A major regen-tourism initiative is currently underway to turn peat bogs into miles and miles of walking and biking trails that connect local towns and village
- Sonoma County Tourism:Now wine enthusiasts can taste with a purpose. Partnering with Kind Traveler, Sonoma County Tourism makes every stay with a partner a give-back opportunity that improves food injustice, protects local trails, supports cleaning local rivers and more. In fact the DMO has rebranded as a DSO—Destination Stewardship Organization.
Bottom line: Regenerative, responsible tourism is now front and center—and a good story to boot.
The future of destination marketing is bold, connected and values-driven
If the eTourism Summit proved anything, it’s that driving engagement—and bookings—means meeting travelers where they’re dreaming, scrolling, and giving back. Here’s to building a future of tourism that’s as thrilling, creative, and sustainable as the destinations themselves. Maybe we’ll see you there next year!
And shout out to our client Visit Cincy for their eTSY Award for Best Use of Emerging Technology for their partnership with Steller for influencer. Congrats on your huge achievement!
Curious how these trends could shape your next campaign—or what’s standing in the way? Find out how Envisionit can help you navigate emerging opportunities and overcome roadblocks with smart, strategic marketing. Let’s talk.
