For Destination Marketing Organizations to rely on Governmental Funding as the sole source of their funding is playing a dangerous game with fate.  read more...

Ten years ago, we were breathing a sigh of relief that Y2K was a non-event, we were catching ourselves writing “19” instead of “20” as we scribbled the year on our checks...and we were blissfully ignorant of plans of pure evil that would change our world the following year.  read more...

 I understand the initial concept...thin the herd. But, now that I'm out in the real world, I see that it is often just a way to make the decision easier...not to land the best possible person.  read more...

As Destination Marketing Organization budgets continue to shrink while public sector scrutiny of our work increases, the concept of a private sector, for-profit DMO is increasingly making an appearance in my “what if” debates with myself and my friends.  read more...

Regional Marketing of a Destination makes all kinds of sense. Beyond the economies of scale that can be achieved and the duplication of administrative effort that can be avoided, the simple reality continues to be that the consumer does not recognize geo-political boundaries as they choose their destination.

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My past rants about the state of Destination Branding have given me a sort of “anti-brand” persona...and nothing could be further from the truth.

Brands are crucial to any Destination. I’m just pretty sure that $90,000 and some research that results in a purty tagline and logo doesn’t guarantee a resonant re-brand.

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Accountability. It’s critical in virtually everything we do.

In Destination Marketing, it’s also real hard.

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It’s been one of those years in which we’ve witnessed a number of regional destination marketing organizations see municipalities pull out, swearing they can market themselves better than the consortium.  read more...



One of the great things about the Z-News (and my blog and twitter posts) is that it elicits incredible responses from other thought leaders in the Destination Marketing industry.  read more...

Each July, it’s the time to reconnect with friends from around the globe and trade ideas with industry thought leaders. And, though the numbers were slightly diminished at this year's Annual Convention of Destination Marketing Association International, it was great to touch base with so many of you.  read more...