The traveler of today is not the traveler of 10 years ago – and neither are the places they visit. And while destination organizations have been pivoting to adjust, they’re also dealing with rising expectations from governments and residents. This seismic shift in the travelsphere has impacted every aspect of destination management and development – something the 2025 Destinations International DestinationNEXT Futures Study put into stark relief.
Developed for Destinations International by MMGY NextFactor, the DestinationNEXT Futures Study began in 2014 and is conducted every two years. This year’s study involved 537 destination organization participants from 36 countries. As the industry’s largest and most significant look at global destination organizations, the study also relies on input from the DestinationNEXT 2025 Global Advisory Committee and five targeted industry panels. The result of bringing together hundreds of global experts is a poignant and somewhat clairvoyant look at the future of destination management.
With all of the rapid technological advancements and evolving traveler behaviors we’ve been experiencing, knowing how destination organizations should plan for the future can be challenging. What will future transformations look like? And how much more change lies ahead?
The DestinationNEXT Futures Study identified five key ways destination management is changing and outlines where destinations need to put their focus to ensure success.
- Forty-two percent of destination organization respondents reported their funding is at risk in the next three years, underlining the urgency of advocacy.
With the rise of public scrutiny on destination funds, the need to demonstrate economic impact and relevance are paramount to maintaining revenue. By strengthening government relations and community engagement, destination organizations can begin building a strong foundation of ambassadorship that will pay off for years to come.
- Eighty-four percent of destination organizations are actively involved in destination development, underscoring its growing importance as a core function.
The DestinationNEXT study seeks to define destination development, landing on it being “proactive, focused on creating the conditions that make a destination desirable and competitive in the first place.” This heightened expectation placed on destination organizations highlights the metamorphosis from destination marketing to destination creation – requiring multidimensional leadership and strong community relationships.
- Generative AI and evolving traveler behavior is transforming destination marketing, pushing organizations to adopt more authentic, data-informed and personalized strategies.
The effect of generative AI on traveler behavior is twofold. On the one hand, it’s changing the way travelers search for inspiration and conduct travel planning – resulting in a dynamic shift in marketing models. On the other hand, the rise of AI has strengthened the desire for authentic, human-driven storytelling. Finding the perfect balance between utilizing AI for its strengths rather than abdicating content creation to it will be critical.
- Destination organizations have already taken on significantly expanded roles, requiring new capabilities, deeper collaboration across sectors and more intentional internal structure.
The evolution of destination organizations signifies a major shift toward a more integrated approach to tourism, where success is measured not only by visitor numbers but by the overall value created within the community. This broadening of scope is crucial for ensuring sustainability and resiliency in the face of change.
- The industry is redefining success, with KPIs increasingly focused on social impact, including resident sentiment, community benefit, environmental sustainability and a welcoming environment, rather than just visitation or spend.
Because the role of destination management has expanded, KPIs can no longer be so narrow. Success is more than “heads in beds” or click-through rates – it’s the visitor’s experience, the buy-in from locals and the intentional destination structure that ensures longevity for both the community and visitors. We must embrace these alternate KPIs to better understand where we need to grow and where we are succeeding.
While we don’t know what travelers will be like 10 years from now, what we can be certain of is that their interests and behaviors will change – and destinations will adapt. An in-depth look at destination management every two years is crucial, but not nearly often enough. Which is why you can now expect quarterly “deep dives” into segments of the study’s findings to keep you informed and able to adjust to market changes.
Need a debrief after all of that? Or want to dig deeper into the findings of the DestinationNEXT Futures Study? Reach out to Cassandra McAuley, MMGY NextFactor’s Managing Director, to schedule a call: [email protected].
