Osceola County’s official tourism authority, Experience Kissimmee, developed and launched a new online, self-service tool designed to help DMOs discern the economic impact of their sales and marketing efforts. The new tool, Impactulator, transforms data into understandable language to help DMOs determine action plans for their destination and build stakeholder confidence, according to an article from Around Osceola.

Impactulator combines an expansive amount of information into meaningful reports for DMO review, going beyond basic data and ROI assessments. It uses patent-pending narrative generator technology to deliver the reports. The tool has already been used by DMOs Reno Tahoe, Tahoe South and Experience Kissimmee.

More information can be found on Impactulator’s website.

Google and The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will work to lead global tourism recovery, Hospitality Net reports. The organizations will host training sessions for DMOs using Google’s new Capacity Building Curriculum, teaching DMOs how to effectively switch to digital through specialized training.

The partnership will also scale up Google’s Tourism Accelerator Program, which gives DMOs skills in working with policymakers to implement digital initiatives and effectively use data and marketing intelligence.

“The strong partnership between UNWTO and Google will help put innovation and digital at the centre of tourism’s recovery. By working together, UNWTO and Google will empower destination, businesses and tourism workers to realize the power of data and market intelligence, both increasingly important as global tourism looks to restart and recover,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said.

Research from Destination Analysts finds that American travelers want ads that are “honest, friendly and fun,” data that is up by 30 percentage points since the previous year.

Online advertising, including Facebook, search engines, streaming video and email campaigns, remains the best internet-oriented methods to reach traveling Americans. Millennials and Gen X are most likely to turn to Facebook for destination travel information.

One third of American travelers say they’ve decided to visit a location after seeing a travel advertisement and over half reported that such ads made them feel happy. Of these, broadcast television and online ads are the top mediums for destination travel messaging.

The information comes as more Americans than ever are planning to travel this summer and keeping the summer travel outlook on a positive trend.

Strategic consulting firms Coraggio Group and Miles Partnership developed a survey for DMOs to assess their resilience in a post-COVID world, a Skift article reports. The “Destination Resilience Assessment Tool” contains 75 questions pertaining to visitors, stakeholders, leadership, teams, marketing and funding and can be completed in about 15 minutes. The tool will be officially launched this summer.

The survey results reveal a number showing the destination’s overall resilience and potential development priorities for DMOs to consider. Not only will the tool help DMOs recover from the pandemic, but can help prepare them for future global tourism crises.

Utah’s Office of Tourism plans on using the assessment tool in its post-COVID comeback planning for rural destinations.

“What I’m seeing, working with those folks is that yes, the DMOs in the U.S. are way more thoughtful than they were just a couple of years ago, about a lot of things — sustainable tourism, managing tourism in a way that ensures good quality of life for people who live there, and increasingly conscientious about diversity, equity and inclusion in the way they operate and they way they market,” Coraggio Group’s travel and tourism practice lead Matthew Landkamer said.

A comprehensive marketing strategy is key to finding donors and foundations you need to get your project off the ground. A strategy shows funders that you have a plan to attract people to your destination, adding an important layer of legitimacy to the hard work you’re doing.

In this webinar, Bull Moose Marketing’s VP of Business Development Joshua Sherretts talks with Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation’s Director of Development & Membership Will Prince about using a marketing strategy to prove your destination’s sustainability and credibility and how to incorporate it into your fund-finding endeavors.

Some topics the webinar will cover include:

• Heritage tourism marketing strategy and how it’s connected to funding goals
• Determining your funding goals and plans to reach them
• Identifying small wins and assets to include in your marketing plan
• What donors and grant institutions are looking for
• How to merge off- and online efforts to show capacity and innovation