With more funding opportunities becoming available for economic development and destination marketing, it’s important to implement a strategy that is mindful of the competition and how to attract tourists. A comprehensive marketing strategy is key in proving your organization is likely to succeed with proper funding from donors and funding agencies. This webinar shows how a strong marketing strategy can help you demonstrate credibility and sustainability to better incorporate these topics into your grant applications and more. Some other topics include:

• How a heritage tourism marketing strategy is connected to funding goals
• Determining funding goals and how to reach them
• What donors and grant institutions are looking for

A report from Destination Analysts reveals the latest in U.S. traveler sentiment amid the rise of the Delta variant. The majority of travelers participating in the survey are in favor of indoor masking policies and vaccine mandates for certain activities. Other findings include:

• About 60% of U.S. travelers say the Delta variant is making them less interested in traveling
• Almost 60% agreed that travel prices are too high right now
• 70.2% of U.S. travelers say they are unlikely to travel to a location with a reputation of being unwelcoming
• Travelers listed New York, California, Texas and Florida as being states that they perceive as possibly being unwelcoming to tourists
• 80% still have trip plans, with a combined 47.8% reporting they have plans to travel in September and October

In this interview with Common Edge, founding principal of New History and former earthquake engineer, Meghan Elliot discusses why adaptive reuse can preserve historic buildings and give back to communities. When it comes to preservation standards, Elliot argues that users should be valued over material preservation.

“When I look at how preservation is practiced and the standards that are used, most of them are set up to preserve as much of the material as possible and implement the least amount of change. My personal belief is, the more we can use these buildings, the better job we’re doing at maintaining history,” she said.

Adjustments in the economy and loss of industries can vastly change a region. In spite of these uncontrollable factors, your region still has much to offer tourists. Even economically disadvantaged areas can have beautiful natural amenities that can attract travelers and, by default, revive local economies by developing their tourism industry. There are many examples of areas that have implemented this strategy successfully. By reshaping the messaging and branding of their communities, these ten destinations used trail tourism were able to better showcase their natural amenities to help revitalize their economies and create more jobs.

Half of U.S. adults say that living somewhere with access to the outdoors is a high priority, according to Markets Insider. Americans’ preference towards the outdoors increased significantly in 2020 and doesn’t appear to be declining anytime soon. This shift has had a big effect on the real estate market with many Americans leaving cities for more rural areas. With effective marketing, this outdoor living trend could give these historically underutilized areas a significant opportunity for economic and population growth.