Destination Marketing Podcast

President of Tourism Economics Adam Sacks joins Adam on the show to talk about how his organization has been able to help destinations look at data in a new light. The two discuss how tourism impacts economic development and why it’s critical for communities to work together to see long-term benefits from visitors. “Quality of life for the community is better because all of these events, experienc...

In this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam takes the show on the road to the North Carolina Tourism Conference. He joins Scott Peacock, Director of Marketing at Visit North Carolina, to discuss the evolving landscape of destination marketing. They talk about the recent changes in AI and how destinations need to consider what use case is right for them. They also discuss the differe...

In this episode, Adam Stoker joins Joe Trahan, a Virginia Beach real estate agent who has successfully integrated community-focused destination marketing into his business. Joe discusses his strategy of merging sales and marketing to engage with the audience by producing valuable content, building trust, and creating a sense of community. He shares his experiences with the "Discover Virginia Beach...

In this episode, Richard Hunt, Executive Director of the Electronic Payments Coalition, joins Adam to discuss the potential effects of the Durbin bill on credit card rewards and the tourism industry. Richard highlights his background in politics and banking and the mission of his coalition to maintain a secure and efficient payment system in The United States. He raises concerns about the bill's i...

In this episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam and Mike Kaput, chief content officer at Marketing AI Institute, discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on the destination marketing industry. They delve into the latest AI-powered tools that have emerged and share valuable insights into how these tools can be effectively utilized to enhance destination marketing strategies. “Leadin...

Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International, joins Adam on today’s episode to discuss the travel-related impact of April’s solar eclipse. Amir shares some interesting statistics he collected from American travelers about their travel plans to see the solar eclipse. The conversation then shifts to other insights that Amir is seeing throughout the industry, such as the impact of inflati...

Powered by Visit Myrtle Beach, “Traveling the Spectrum” is a docuseries following families with members on the autism spectrum as they take a vacation of a lifetime. On today’s episode, Stuart Butler and Adam invite you to support this docuseries and help it find a platform. They also touch on the importance of a DMO-produced series and how owned media content has a bright future in destination ma...

In this episode, Adam continues his time at Destinations International’s Marketing and Communications Summit, where he sits down with Angeline Chew, executive director at Discover Surrey. Angeline shares why ensuring an optimal visitor experience is critical. She also dives into how DMOs can collaborate with stakeholders to curate these experiences for the traveler. “My other thing with destinatio...

In this episode, Adam takes the show to the Destinations International Marketing and Communications Summit, where he sits down with Brandon Pendergast, sales and marketing manager at Visit Helena. Brandon talks about Visit Helena’s rebrand process and how they involved key stakeholders and community members to ensure its success. “We communicated to our local stakeholders and invested the time to...

In this episode, Adam invites travel expert, author and podcast host Sarah Dandashy to share her insights on the hospitality industry. Sarah talks about her experiences working in travel and tourism and explains why having great people is crucial for providing excellent hospitality to visitors. Adam and Sarah also discuss her role in West Hollywood's podcast and why creating meaningful content is...

In this episode, Adam talks with Tom Farrell, Founder and CEO of The Workshop, an Emmy-nominated team that focuses on producing unscripted television content. They talk about some of the projects that Tom has worked on, including an upcoming project for Visit Myrtle Beach: Traveling the Spectrum. Listen to learn why Tom is so passionate about telling stories and how your destination can do somethi...

On this episode, Adam is joined by President and CEO of Visit Laguna Beach Rachel O’Neill Cusey to discuss their new campaign, “From Radical Origins.” Designed to tell the stories that have shaped Laguna Beach, this brand-new campaign defies conventional advertising norms, offering a fresh approach to portraying a destination's narrative. “If I learned anything, it was from the people that told th...

This week, Adam dives into the cultural phenomenon that is Taylor Swift and how two cities were able to capitalize on The Eras Tour coming to town. Isaac Reichman from Choose Chicago and Julie Calvert from Visit Cincy join Adam to talk about their experiences hosting the tour and the incredible results they saw from this major event. Choose Chicago Visit Cincy If you’re enjoying the show, please l...

In this episode, Esther Wagner from Palmetto Pride joins Adam to discuss the relationship between litter and crime, and how her organization aims to change littering behaviors for a cleaner South Carolina. She explains the importance of crime prevention through environmental design and its four strategies: territoriality, natural access control, natural surveillance and maintenance. Esther emphasi...

In this episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam and Jen Brunson, marketing coordinator at Visit Myrtle Beach, discuss Jen's podcast, "I Speak Mama," a podcast for moms that has been a crucial part of Myrtle Beach’s content strategy. They talk about why a podcast for moms works so well in the tourism space and how subtly promoting Myrtle Beach has proven to be an effective strategy. Jen...

In this episode, Adam takes the show on the road to the South Carolina Annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism & Travel. He talks with Devyn Whitmire, Digital Engagement Manager for Discover South Carolina, about her professional journey, creating the Palmetto Porch podcast and its focus on authentic local stories to promote tourism. Devyn highlights the podcast's role in driving brand awareness a...

In this bonus episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam highlights two episodes of a new show produced by EKR, Brands & Campaigns. Host Camden Bernatz and special guest Stuart Butler dive into Myrtle Beach’s “Mittary Best” campaign, entirely generated by AI. In the second part of the episode, Adam joins Camden to analyze why this campaign was so successful and what other destinations can...

Stuart Butler, Chief Marketing Officer of Visit Myrtle Beach, joins this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast to discuss the dynamic nature of destination marketing. Adam and Stuart explore the shift towards owned media strategies and the power of storytelling in engaging audiences. Stuart highlights Myrtle Beach's innovative projects like "Chef Swap" and "Traveling the Spectrum” and talks...

In this episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam joins three special guests from Salt Lake City, Utah. Erin Mendenhall, Mayor of Salt Lake City, Kaitlin Eskelson, President & CEO at Visit Salt Lake, and Sarah Lehman, CEO at Zartico, join Adam to talk about the factors that have contributed to Salt Lake's tourism success. Mayor Mendenhall discusses overcoming growth and how the challenges...

To celebrate 300 episodes of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam has something special planned. On today’s episode, he sits down with his daughter Millie, who interviews him on all things relating to the podcast. Tune in for insights on why Adam created The Destination Marketing Podcast, the lessons he’s learned along the way and some reflection on the past 300 episodes. “And I think that’s th...

Nicole Mahoney is the CEO of Break the Ice Media, host of the podcast Destination on the Left and the author of Stronger Together: Building World Changing Business Collaborations. Today, she sits down with Adam on the Destination Marketing Podcast to talk about her entrepreneurial background and what led her to start her own agency. Nicole also shares some insights on collaboration from her book a...

Adam is still on the road in Lewiston, Idaho for today’s episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast. Joining him today is Mike McKenna, the executive director of the Chamber of Hailey and the Wood River Valley, and Scott Fortner, the Executive Director of Visit Sun Valley. Both Mike and Scott detail the relationships that their respective DMOs have with their visitors, how they’ve cultivated tha...

Adam is on the road again, this time at the Idaho Conference on Recreation and Tourism. He is joined by Andrea Rayburn and Jeremy Chase with the Idaho Department of Commerce to talk about how Visit Idaho is utilizing content to amplify its marketing reach. Jeremy also talks about his time working with agencies and how that experience has given him a new perspective as the Marketing and Innovation...

Adam continues his conversation with the Utah Tourism Collective in this week’s episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, diving into some of the things that will have a major impact on tourism this year. They discuss how AI has changed the world and why destinations need to learn how to use it. They also talk about why taking risks is critical and how industry vendors play a key role in movin...

In this episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam joins together with three other members of the Utah Tourism Collective: Darren Dunn from Zartico, Jason Linder from Ripe, and Lauren Neeleman from Spontigo. They each provide an update on their organization and what they expect to come from the industry in 2024. Listen to learn about Zartico’s new data acquisition and how Spontigo is makin...