Leading Destinations Gather in London to Discuss the Future of Tourism Marketing

The Digital Tourism Think Tank (DTTT), in partnership with Skyscanner, Google, YouGov and TXGB, hosted?Future. Destination. Brand. ?on 23 and 24 November to inspire the tourism industry and encourage the sharing of the best-in-class digital examples of brand creativity and activation. Skyscanner hosted the first in-person?DTTT X. Awards , which celebrated the industry's realisations in driving digitalisation, sustainability and collaboration. With winners from three continents, it was truly a recognition of the global tourism industry.

Future. Destination. Brand. proved to be a great opportunity to share the latest achievements of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) through roundtables and a full-day conference focused on exchanging insights on innovative marketing campaigns.

Celebrating Creativity, Talent & Innovation

The third edition of the DTTT X. Awards recognised innovation projects, engaging digital marketing campaigns, purposeful brand initiatives and industry partnerships across six prestigious award categories.

The Transformation Award, sponsored by Skyscanner, celebrated how undertaking change enables brands to emerge stronger. Visit Norway's mobile optimisation of its website through a thorough redesign, including an innovative 'scrollytelling' format and cutting-edge, 'headless' CMS was a worthy winner.?

The Partnership Award?championed excellence in supporting industry partners to be more digitally competitive, resilient and adaptable to current trends. Digital that Delivers, an initiative of Fáilte Ireland, showed how, with a clear vision, DMOs can facilitate the upskilling of local businesses.?

The Purposeful Brand Award?acknowledged creative initiatives that generate positive impacts. The Journey of Your Life campaign, by the Catalan Tourist Board, used an innovative interactive multi-camera experience to spotlight rural locations, which effectively dispersed the benefits of tourism throughout the region.

The Digital Impact Award?highlighted impactful, innovative and uniquely engaging digital brand concepts. For its experimental use of VR headsets, the German National Tourist Board showed how to promote destinations in 3D via new digital media and evoke visual, auditory and physical senses.

The Leadership Award?showcased individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to promoting tourism and creating economic opportunities, with a strong focus on young talent. Chieko Tanaka, the Representative Director of Touristship, an initiative of Kyoto City Tourism Association, has displayed an exceptional ambition and drive to create a better form of tourism, where travellers and residents interact positively with each other.

The?People's Choice Award?celebrated the achievements of all nominees, with Tourisme ?les de la Madeleine winning the people's hearts. The "Aux ?les, je m'engage / I Care for Les ?les" campaign encouraged visitors to pledge their commitment to responsible and sustainable tourism. ?

Bringing Destinations Together

The two-day event kicked off with closed-room discussions for digital and marketing directors in the tourism sector, with candid discussions about emerging digital marketing trends and how horizon technologies can be used to develop creative and authentic campaigns. Participants also exchanged knowledge about new data sources and KPIs to move from a volume-based to a value-based marketing approach, ensuring that sustainability is more central within digital strategies.

Google hosted the main conference on 24 November, with insights from market research companies about the latest global travel trends and changing consumer behaviour. Advice was also shared about creating attention-grabbing visual content and implementing successful co-op campaigns.?New research ?into the current state of the marketing landscape was revealed publicly for the first time, helping destinations position their strategies for 2024.?

Fostering innovation and evolving digital marketing strategies were a focal point of all sessions, with a strong focus on the potential of generative AI to transform marketing opportunities and engage visitors. With social media an ever more important marketing platform, omni-channel content strategies were spotlighted in the excellent keynotes. Encouraging sustainable travel behaviour and building partnerships were also key topics, aligning with insights from?Skyscanner's latest Horizons Report .

With DMO representatives from across the globe, Future. Destination. Brand. was a truly inspirational and successful event that explored digital shifts in the future of destination branding. From the Americas to Africa, destinations of all sizes learnt about best practices in travel marketing, exchanged opinions and experiences and heard about the latest technologies to support marketers.