DMO & Destination Stewardship Lab | April 10th, 2026

Led By: Jillian Dickens

Destination marketing organizations sit at a powerful crossroads. You have the platform to shape how travelers perceive and engage with place, yet you are often caught between promoting volume and protecting what makes a destination worth visiting. This lab brings together DMO professionals to work through that tension honestly.

You will explore how to evolve from destination marketing to destination stewardship, shifting your metrics, your messaging, and your stakeholder relationships. We examine what 'community license to operate' actually looks like in practice, how to engage residents as partners rather than afterthoughts, and how to use your platform to attract visitors who will add to rather than extract from the places you represent.