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Join us for a dynamic half-day Destination Tools and Intelligence Symposium, presented in collaboration with Tourism Economics, designed for destination professionals who rely on data to drive decision-making. The event begins with an exclusive fireside conversation featuring Adam Sacks, President of Tourism Economics, and Ryan Sweet, a leading U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Together, they will provide insights into the current state of the travel industry before transitioning into a discussion around practical tools and strategies to help destinations navigate an evolving landscape. This symposium offers valuable perspectives and hands-on learning, equipping both current and prospective users of our suite of destination tools with best practices, real-world success stories, and strategies to enhance their organization’s impact. Key sessions will cover:

• The Event Impact Calculator (EIC) and its modules
• The Symphony Platform for destination intelligence
• The Website Impact Calculator for measuring digital return on investment

Whether you are experienced in using these tools or exploring them for the first time, this symposium provides a unique opportunity to engage with industry experts and gain practical applications to strengthen your destination’s strategy.

The symposium is an optional add-on session to Annual Convention. Add the session during the registration process.
Cost: US$249

Calling all visitor experiences, services and community engagement professionals - you're invited to join for the 2025 Visitor Services Summit!. This full day of programming (leading up to DI's Annual Convention) offers interactive and immersive sessions designed to discover new and innovative ways to utilize your visitor center as a powerful tool for building brand awareness, re-envisioning the evolving role of visitors centers and fostering community engagement. This year's Summit is the perfect opportunity to partake in peer-to-peer discussions, sharing key learnings from your destinations' challenges/successes and best practices, leaving attendees with inspiration to tackle the year ahead.

Visitor Services Summit is a separate event co-located with Annual Convention. Learn more and register here.
Cost: US$650 members | US$975 non-members

What separates destinations that merely survive from those that truly thrive? One word: Funding. In an era of uncertain budgets and shifting priorities, destinations cannot afford to rely on traditional funding models. The Funding Forum by Civitas brings together the brightest minds in destination management to tackle today's most complex funding challenges head-on. Immerse yourself in case studies from trailblazing destinations that have mastered sustainable funding models, connect with fellow leaders tackling identical challenges, and gain critical insights into legislation reshaping the funding landscape. At this event, you’ll discover powerful advocacy tactics to champion your funding priorities with key stakeholders and policymakers effectively. Confront the most pressing DMO threats head-on as industry experts address the legislative landscape of short-term rentals and the growing trend of redirecting DMO funding toward affordable housing initiatives. Join us as we look at the trends in funding priorities, including the increasing demand for financing sports facilities development. At this one-of-a-kind session, you'll gain the connections, insights, advocacy perspectives, and roadmap needed to secure your destination's financial resilience for years to come—because in today's competitive landscape, innovative funding backed by strategic advocacy isn't just an advantage; it's essential for survival.

The forum is an optional add-on session to Annual Convention that is complimentary to Destinations International members on a space-available basis. Add the session during the registration process.

Join the team at Expedia Group Media Solutions to hear the latest industry insights and traveler trends that are shaping travel marketing decisions. From AI to audience extension and everything in between, these travel advertising experts will show how you can reach your next best traveler, when you need it most.

The session is an optional add-on session to Annual Convention that is complimentary to Destinations International members on a space-available basis. Add the session during the registration process.

The 2025 CSR Activity is an immersive volunteer and learning experience designed to connect attendees with the heart of Chicago’s communities. This initiative blends meaningful service and offers a rich understanding of Chicago’s past, present, and future through the lens of community changemakers.

Additional details available soon. The activity is an optional add-on session to Annual Convention. Add the session during the registration process.

Join us for a celebration of industry accomplishments prior to the Annual Convention opening reception. We will recognize individuals and organizations that are being honored for CDME credentials, DMAP accreditation, Hall of Fame, Destination Organization Leadership Awards, and 30 Under 30.

Chicago’s strength lies in its diversity, woven together by 77 vibrant neighborhoods, each with its own culture, flavors, and stories. Join us at the historic Old Post Office as we celebrate the city’s rich tapestry through food inspired by its diverse communities and a special performance by Chicago’s own Melody Angel. Experience the soul of Chicago—where every neighborhood has a seat at the table.

Justin Wren, Founder, Fight for the the Forgotten, a non-profit that helps the Pygmy people in the Congo.  He is also a speaker, author and former MMA champion who overcame addiction and depression.

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Justin Wren

Founder

Fight for the Forgotten

 

 

 

Travelers are craving authentic, offbeat experiences—giving small DMOs a chance to shine by embracing their destination’s unique charm. This panel of women leaders, featuring experts from All Together, Kick Push, and Visit Oak Park, will explore how to identify and market unconventional attractions to captivate visitors. With 70% of millennials prioritizing cultural and unique experiences over traditional sights, learn step-by-step strategies to uncover local quirks, craft compelling storytelling, and turn hidden gems into must-visit destinations. Walk away with actionable tactics to make even the most unexpected attractions a defining draw.

Community alignment is hard. Building relationships is hard. Executing your strategic plan is hard until it’s NOT. Learn how Fort Collins created ‘Fortitude” to move strategic objectives forward for their organization and community. Key partnerships with Colorado State University and the City of Fort Collins Economic Health Department created a road map to elevate relationships, actions and results. Join this conversation to learn the language of success and tenacity to engage key stakeholders, build a constituency of tourism advocates and build fortitude for your community.

Learn practical strategies to drive year-round tourism by reducing seasonality through data-driven marketing, flexible product development, and cross-sector collaboration. This session features global case studies to showcase how destinations can attract off-season travelers with targeted campaigns, tailored experiences, and unique low-season offerings. This session will provide insights into using market segmentation and forecasting to identify off-season opportunities, designing flexible, interest-based tourism products, leveraging digital tools to reach niche low-season markets and creating exclusive experiences to boost off-season appeal. The session concludes with actionable recommendations to help destinations collaborate effectively, innovate tourism offerings, and sustain travel year-round.

This session will guide DMOs in shifting from product-focused marketing to a compelling, insight-driven brand strategy. Attendees will learn the difference between “brand” (the destination’s essence) and “creative” (how that essence is expressed), and how aligning the two fosters stronger audience connections. Using data and tools like the 5Cs framework, the session will show how to build a brand identity that resonates with travelers and guides consistent creative execution across touchpoints. Through real-world examples and inspiration from The Creative Act, participants will explore how to measure, refine, and evolve their creative strategies to drive long-term brand impact and sustainable tourism growth.

Collaboration between competing destinations can unlock new funding, drive innovation, and expand impact. This session explores two powerful case studies that show how working together creates shared success:

- Cook County Tourism Alive: Five suburban Chicago DMOs partnered with the county’s economic development bureau to secure $10M in ARPA funds—the first regional tourism funding of its kind. Together, they launched inclusive initiatives in leisure marketing, workforce development, outdoor recreation, and local investment. 
- Cities of the Big Ten: Eighteen DMOs representing Big Ten universities united to promote travel to their cities beyond sports. Through joint marketing, a website, a downloadable passport, and social media, the alliance showcases festivals, campus visits, and local attractions—leveraging the power of the Big Ten brand to boost regional tourism.

Learn how strategic alliances like these can drive big wins for destinations of all sizes.

Traveler behavior is evolving rapidly—are you keeping up? In this data-driven session, Chris Davidson of MMGY Travel Intelligence shares the latest research on global traveler trends, covering key markets including the U.S., Europe, Canada, East Asia, India, and the Middle East. Discover how travelers perceive value, plan trips, and prioritize experiences in today’s economic and social climate. From sustainability and wellness to shifting intent and booking behaviors, gain actionable insights to refine your destination’s strategy and stay ahead of emerging trends. Don’t miss this opportunity to decode the global traveler’s mindset and prepare for the future of tourism.

In this session, Visit Richmond, VA shares how flipping the script—putting Sales in the lead on key marketing efforts—has created powerful alignment between leisure and group travel strategies. By using psychographic data to understand traveler motivations, Sales and Marketing work together to craft campaigns that resonate across audiences.

In today’s competitive tourism market, standing out requires more than just a beautiful destination—it demands creativity, bold thinking, and a willingness to explore uncharted paths. This panel session brings together destination organizations from a range of sizes and budget capacities to share how they’re using unexpected marketing opportunities to break through the noise and connect with travelers in meaningful ways.  From Visit Savannah’s groundbreaking "Surprisingly Savannah Mobile Tour," now in its second year, to Athens, GA’s energetic "Amp It Up Athens" community event, Lake Charles, LA’s immersive " As Much Joy As You Can Pack In" initiative, and Visit Baltimore’s innovative Mobile Visitor Center activation—this session will dive into real-world examples of how DMOs are embracing unconventional strategies to redefine destination marketing. 

Attracting, retaining, and advancing diverse talent is critical to the future of the tourism industry. Using Destinations International’s Workforce Diversification and Retention Brief as a roadmap, this panel session explores how destination organizations can lead inclusive workforce development efforts that create lasting impact in their communities. Through a series of destination case studies, the session will highlight practical strategies across four key focus areas:

- Identifying Talent: How to attract and recruit diverse candidates from local communities by building meaningful, grassroots connections.
- Mentorship and Coaching: The role of structured mentorship in nurturing professional growth and advancing equity.
- Skills Development: Approaches to strengthening soft skills, problem-solving, communication, and leadership capacity in young professionals.
- Career Pathways: Creating visible, attainable advancement opportunities within the tourism and hospitality field.

Whether you’re just beginning your workforce strategy or looking to deepen your impact, join us to explore replicable models and actionable steps to strengthen your talent pipeline and shape a more inclusive industry.

Discover how Visit Sacramento launched a cultural tourism program to advance equity, deepen community engagement, and bring underrepresented neighborhoods into the tourism ecosystem. This case study outlines the creation of a Cultural Tourism Advisory Committee, partnership with the City’s Office of Arts and Culture, and the rollout of initiatives like a Cultural Tourism Summit, neighborhood video series, and collaboration with the Stockton Boulevard Partnership. Learn how cultural tourism became a strategic pillar, how success is being measured through geolocation data, and how this work is building local tourism champions while enriching the visitor experience.

When disaster strikes, destination organizations play a critical role in supporting community recovery while respecting the authority of official responders. This session offers real-world insights and actionable strategies for DMOs navigating natural disasters and unexpected emergencies. Using real-world examples from wildfire responses in California and Oregon and Hurricane Helene’s impact on North Carolina, attendees will learn how to build relationships with emergency response teams before crises hit, support official efforts without overstepping, communicate clearly and compassionately through all stages of crisis, use DMO platforms to amplify trusted information, assist lodging partners in serving displaced residents and responders, develop effective recovery marketing that balances tourism and community needs, and advocate for local, state, and federal recovery support. this session will help DMO professionals at all levels prepare for crisis response and recovery while staying true to their mission and supporting the communities they serve.

Tourism thrives when destination branding aligns with community values. This session explores how DMOs, local leaders, and businesses can collaborate to create authentic storytelling, a shared vision for growth, and meaningful stakeholder engagement. Learn strategies to balance heritage with innovation, ensure tourism benefits both visitors and residents, and empower locals as brand ambassadors. Discover how aligning community identity with tourism goals leads to sustainable success.

Destination stewardship is no check-the-box exercise. At its best, it's a journey centered on improving the well-being of people and places through tourism, with local priorities as the North Star. This session brings together leading destination executives to share different perspectives of how to steward a visitor economy in ways that resonate with visitors, residents, and industry stakeholders while making the destination an ever-better place to be. 

As destination organizations shift from marketers to stewards, a clear, unified definition of destination stewardship is critical. Developed by the Global Stewardship Innovation Lab and adopted by Destinations International, this definition emphasizes a continuous pursuit of a net positive tourism ecosystem aligned with community values. In this session, members of the Innovation Lab will break down the key elements of the definition and share a best-practice framework designed to guide destinations on a path of continuous improvement. Through real-world examples and inclusive stories, the panel will clarify how stewardship differs from traditional marketing and management—and how it can be applied to create lasting, regenerative impact.

Andre Norman, Founder, Second Chance University. Andre’s personal experiences have helped him empower companies to have authentic, unvarnished conversations that drive change. To date, he has impacted communities in 25 countries, from North America to West Africa, with his story of perseverance and commitment to social change. Andre has delivered 1,230 speeches and helped 1,720 companies make a positive impact on society.

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Andre Norman

Founder

Second Chance University