The leaves may be changing, but your desire to help your community isn’t. With all the hard work that it takes to support a community, we know you’ve got a full calendar. So, to help you out, we’ve compiled the top headlines and resources for DMOs so you can stay up to date on the latest this week.

Check out the holiday travel outlook, considerations for influencer strategies, how to communicate effectively with visitors and more. Keep reading to keep up on what you need to know to move your destination, and yourself, towards success.

As the Delta variant threat begins to decrease, travelers are gearing up for travel once again, promising a positive outlook for the upcoming holiday season. Surveys from Destination Analysts report that 75.7% of travelers are excited to travel for the holidays this year. In fact, travel idea research and bookings increased in the past week. About 45% of Americans have reported that they have tentative travel plans, and data is predicting 2.8 holiday-related trips per traveler.

While travelers solidify their plans, make sure to showcase the safety measures your destination is taking to protect visitors from Covid-19. Show visitors you’re doing all you can to keep them safe to give them peace of mind about their holiday travel decision.

With a busy holiday travel season predicted, now is the perfect time for stakeholders to reevaluate their influencer marketing strategy for attracting visitors. This article from HospitalityNet provides insight into how they can utilize effective influencer marketing into their overall strategy in a post-pandemic landscape. While some stakeholders are already using influencer marketing, others are showing a new interest in implementing this strategy. These considerations will help frame their perspective on this valuable marketing tool:

1. Long-term partnerships offer stable income streams for influencers.
2. Influencers have made their mark as professional, cost-effective content creators.
3. Seeking out nano- and microinfluencers provides more experiential diversity and reaches a wider audience.

“While utilizing influencers might mean that you’ll need to adjust your marketing budget, finding the right influencers for your destination can pay off and increase your audience through more creative and engaging content. Check out this blog and this webinar to learn more about influencer marketing for heritage tourism.

If there’s one thing the pandemic has reinforced for us, it’s that communicating with your visitors is key to ensuring they have a positive experience. Whether you’re adjusting your Covid guidelines or updating your hours, it’s important to make sure you’re going through the right channels to communicate these changes with your visitors. Posting on your social media, sending monthly or quarterly newsletters, updating your website and setting up SMS messaging for visitors can ensure that visitors are more likely to be aware of changes that could impact their trip.

Visitors aren’t the only ones who need clear communication. You want to make sure your stakeholders and business partners also have all the information they need to provide their visitors with a great experience.

Don’t surprise your visitors and stakeholders. By using all your communication tools to stay in touch, you’re making sure everyone has a memorable experience they want to share.

Emails are part of the foundation of the modern workplace. As a DMO, email might be the primary source of communication you have with your visitors and stakeholders, so knowing how to write effective emails is essential. Use these email tips to write emails people want to engage with:

1. What is going on in the recipient’s life? Acknowledge any work wins they have or tell them how much you appreciate their work.
2. Provide sufficient information for the recipient. Don’t keep them guessing on any details they need to know.
3. Make sure the email content is accurate. If it means you need to double-check information, do it or the recipient may not think you’re reliable.
4. Consider the tone of your message. You don’t want the recipient interpreting the wrong intentions behind your email.
5. Don’t start your emails with “I.” Writing your message to consider the other person will show the recipient you’re thinking about them.