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Travel Weekly
08-07-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Brand USA funding cut is a red flag: Impact storytelling matters more than ever
The slashing of Brand USA's budget by 80% is a red flag that the travel and tourism industry cannot afford to ignore. It raises a deeper question: Who's telling the story of your destination — and whose stories are policymakers listening to? When federal and state legislators make decisions that defund destination marketing or divert hotel bed tax revenue to other "community-focused" projects, it's often because the true impact of tourism — especially on local economies and underrepresented communities — isn't being told well or at all. Stephanie Jones is founder and CEO of Disrupt for Change and the Diversity Tourism Academy. Glamorous marketing campaigns and record-breaking visitor arrivals may grab headlines, but they rarely resonate with policymakers who are tasked with stewarding public dollars. What does resonate? Economic impact. Community impact. Stories of real businesses and neighborhoods that have directly benefited from tourism investment. But here's the hard truth: If your destination has not been intentional about integrating underrepresented small suppliers and communities into your tourism ecosystem, you will not have these stories to tell when it matters most. Policymakers want to know: • Who benefits when tourism dollars flow into a city or region? • Are those benefits reaching beyond hotel chains, attractions and big-name operators? • Is tourism helping to scale, sustain and create profitability for small businesses and local communities? If your destination cannot confidently point to Black-owned tour operators, local artisan shops, cultural museums and underrepresented entrepreneurs who can say, "Tourism helped grow my business," then you are missing a critical piece of your inclusive tourism and advocacy strategy. This is why the gutting of Brand USA's funding is so telling. It's not just about federal cuts. It's a symptom of a broader disconnect between tourism's perceived glamour and its measurable, equitable economic contribution. When decision-makers don't see how tourism investment creates tangible value across all parts of a destination, they deprioritize it. They reallocate funds. And they look elsewhere for ROI. For too long, many destinations have approached community engagement as a box to check — tokenism dressed up as outreach. But performative gestures don't build trust, visibility or economic impact. They certainly don't build advocacy allies when your budget is on the chopping block. What's needed now is a shift toward equity alignment and intentional ecosystem building. That means: • Integrating underrepresented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and cultural institutions into local tourism supply chains • Equipping these businesses with the tools, training and visibility to compete • Helping them develop case studies and impact stories that can be shared with stakeholders and policymakers alike This isn't charity — it's strategy. Ask yourself: • Can you confidently point to 10 small businesses or cultural attractions that are better off today because of your tourism strategy? • Can you call on them tomorrow to speak on your behalf to a city council or congressional committee about tourism's impact on their livelihood? • Are they ready and empowered to help you defend your budget -- not out of obligation, but because they have benefited directly from your leadership? If the answer is no, that's a red flag — not just for your marketing efforts, but for your long-term sustainability and political leverage. The Brand USA cuts aren't just about a federal marketing budget. They are a signal to the entire industry. When tourism isn't seen as creating shared prosperity, it loses its legitimacy as a public investment. Destinations that fail to prioritize inclusive economic development will continue to be vulnerable to defunding and disinvestment. Here is my call to action: Build now so you don't have to scramble later. I have seen though my businesses that DMOs and tourism boards can move from talk to transformation by: • Identifying and engaging underrepresented SMEs and cultural institutions • Delivering culturally relevant, industry-specific training to make them tourism market-ready • Equipping them to share truth-telling stories about how tourism has impacted their businesses and communities When these businesses are fully integrated into your tourism economy, you don't have to manufacture impact stories — you already have them. And when legislators question the value of tourism funding, you have local voices who can speak powerfully and authentically about how those dollars made a difference. Will you be proactive or reactive? The choice is yours. Continue to operate in silos and react when funding is threatened. Or act now to build a tourism ecosystem that is inclusive, resilient and politically defensible because its impact is clear, measurable and backed by real voices. Is your destination ready to move from performative to purposeful? Let's co-create an ecosystem where every stakeholder — especially those traditionally excluded — can benefit and advocate for tourism's rightful place in our economic future. ___________________________________________________________ Travel Weekly accepts opinion pieces on subjects of interest to the travel industry and, most importantly, to travel advisors. Forums should be 550 words and must be exclusive to Travel Weekly; no part of the writing can have been published anywhere else. Forums must not be self-promotional and should be submitted with the understanding that Travel Weekly reserves the right to edit the content for length, style, spelling, clarity, structure, etc. Submissions, along with a high-resolution headshot and a short bio, should be emailed to editor in chief Arnie Weissmann and deputy managing editor Gerry Bourbeau.
Skift
16-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Skift Data + AI Summit Video: AI and the Future of Travel Marketing
As destinations navigate growing competition, real-time movement data is becoming essential to inform smarter marketing, planning, and resource allocation. In this talk, Zartico's chief innovation officer and co-founder, along with its chief operating officer, discuss how AI-powered behavioral insights can close costly data gaps across the visitor journey. This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner. In this video: Destinations and travel brands are shifting from retrospective reporting to real-time behavioral intelligence as they face rising uncertainty, changing consumer patterns, and intense global competition for travelers. Marketers are under growing pressure to optimize media spend, reduce acquisition costs, and justify ROI, making high-quality, actionable data more critical than ever. Zartico uses AI-powered data cleansing, segmentation, and movement tracking to help destinations, events, and attractions make faster, more predictive decisions. In this video from the Skift Data + AI Summit, Zartico's Nicole Brownell, chief operating officer, and Jay Kinghorn, co-founder and chief innovation officer, joined SkiftX Content Director Alison McCarthy to discuss how movement data and AI are reshaping destination strategy, marketing optimization, and real-time decision-making. Zartico has repositioned itself as a behavioral intelligence platform in a sector long dependent on outdated reporting. The company gives clients a live, detailed map of how travelers interact with destinations by feeding AI-filtered movement data directly into decision-making workflows, replacing the old model of static dashboards and lagging data that often forced reactive planning. This real-time precision is especially valuable as marketing teams face rising costs and shrinking budgets. Zartico's data can surface wide disparities in customer acquisition costs, sometimes varying tenfold between markets, allowing marketers to fine-tune campaign spending based on actual performance rather than assumptions. The result: leaner, more defensible marketing and media strategies that adapt quickly as conditions shift. While destinations remain the core business, Zartico is also expanding into skiing, resorts, and attractions. In 2023, its data guided event operations and guest experiences at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, even prompting the city's first-ever pop-up bars to meet traveler demand. As more sectors adopt this intelligence, Zartico's ability to patch over fragmented data ecosystems offers a fuller picture of guest behavior onsite and beyond the property line. This content was created collaboratively by Zartico and Skift's branded content studio, SkiftX.
Travel Daily News
10-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
Stacey Liburd appointed CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority
Stacey A. Liburd appointed CEO of Grenada Tourism Authority, bringing 15+ years of experience in destination marketing, sustainable tourism, and regional leadership. ST. GEORGE, GRENADA – The Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) announce the appointment of Stacey A. Liburd as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective June 15, 2025. A highly regarded tourism professional with more than 15 years of experience in destination marketing, stakeholder engagement and tourism development, Mrs. Liburd brings a strong record of leadership, innovation and regional expertise to the role. Prior to her appointment, Mrs. Liburd served as Director of Tourism at the Anguilla Tourist Board, where she led award-winning marketing campaigns, expanded international airlift and championed sustainable tourism growth. Her career spans strategic market expansion, brand positioning, aviation partnerships and the execution of large-scale events across prestigious platforms including Virtuoso Travel Week, ILTM Cannes and IMEX Americas. She has also held senior sales and marketing roles in the private hospitality sector, where she successfully launched luxury property campaigns and established key partnerships with global travel consortia. Commenting on her new appointment, Mrs. Liburd stated, 'I am deeply honored to accept the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Grenada Tourism Authority. I thank the Minister of Tourism and the Board for their confidence in me. I would also like to sincerely thank Ms. Petra Roach for her outstanding leadership and unwavering commitment to Grenada's tourism sector. She has laid a strong and meaningful foundation, and I am deeply grateful for the legacy she leaves and the example she has set. Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique are destinations of extraordinary beauty, culture, and potential. I look forward to working closely with our industry partners to further elevate our brand, strengthen our presence in key markets, and ensure that tourism continues to bring meaningful, sustainable benefits to our people.' Chairman of the Grenada Tourism Authority, Randall Dolland, welcomed Mrs. Liburd's appointment, noting, 'Stacey Liburd brings a wealth of knowledge and a strategic mindset that is essential to the continued growth and evolution of Grenada's tourism industry. Her regional leadership experience and marketing expertise align perfectly with our goals of strengthening destination visibility, forging impactful partnerships, and enhancing the visitor experience.' Minister for Tourism, the Creative Economy and Culture, Honorable Adrian Thomas, added, 'We are excited to welcome Mrs. Liburd to Grenada. Her accomplishments within the tourism sector speak for themselves, and we believe her leadership will guide our industry into its next phase of innovation, sustainability, and inclusive growth. We also extend heartfelt thanks to Ms. Petra Roach for her exceptional contribution during her tenure, which has elevated Grenada's global profile, increased airlift and visitor numbers, and inspired confidence in our tourism future.' Ms. Roach will now transition to a senior leadership role in the private sector with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
