Destination marketing/management organizations (DMOs), like many other players in the travel industry, are keeping up with evolving technology – including the oft-discussed artificial intelligence.

But AI adoption is not just an internal concern for DMOs. These organizations, which work with local businesses to promote a destination, also have a certain responsibility to educate partners, suppliers and members on ways to advance their mission.

So how big is the responsibility of DMOs to educate their members about these and other new technologies and how to use them effectively – especially given that AI-powered search engines and agents may play a larger role in travel planning?

“The more savvy the destination is overall with technology and marketing, the better we can maintain our market share and grow the tourism economy,” says Kara Franker, current CEO of Visit Estes Park, the DMO for Estes Park, Colorado, who will assume a new role as president and CEO of Visit Florida Keys next month.

According to industry leaders, like any new technology, AI can prove beneficial to the members of an organization and, in turn, to the mission of a DMO as a whole – so education is crucial.

DMOs as technology educators

Education is an essential part of a DMO’s role and responsibility towards its suppliers, partners and members.

“We definitely see one of our responsibilities as educating our members,” says Janette Roush, executive vice president of New York City Tourism + Conventions.

And in AI, this ability is important.

“The world is changing … our members need to be able to keep up,” Roush said. “But I also see this as a core element of being a competitive destination.”

Franker agreed.

“DMOs can play a very important role in this process by stepping up to the plate and setting a good example for small operators and businesses in the markets,” Franker said. “The more savvy the destination as a whole is in terms of technology and marketing, the better we can maintain market share and drive the tourism economy forward.”

Roush expressed this through New York City Tourism + Conventions’ goals as an organization. The DMO wants to ensure that travelers choose New York over other destinations. AI can facilitate this and make their team’s work more efficient, so it’s a natural desire to educate members.

However, Roush acknowledged that education may not be a priority for all DMOs.

“Not all DMOs are membership organizations, are they?” she said. “So other DMOs may have a very different point of view. But because we are a membership organization … we have to provide value to our members, and education is one way to do that, and we’re in a good position to do that because we understand their business.”

Budgeting for education versus marketing

The question is being raised within the industry as to whether DMOs should shift part of their marketing spend to technology development and training of their members, in particular to help the many providers digitize their operations and provide personalized offers directly to travelers.

This point makes sense considering that suppliers, partners and members often ask DMOs two questions, according to Tony Carne, author of the Everything AI in Travel newsletter, who recently wrote an article for Travel Daily Media about how DMOs can use AI to help suppliers succeed. These questions include: “What have you done for me recently?” and “What have you done with the money?”

But Roush and Franker say that logic doesn’t necessarily hold in practice. Reassignment isn’t a solution to help partners advance technologically. Marketing is still important.

“Instead of reallocating marketing budgets to technology, I think it’s about finding the right balance between the two, because to encourage travelers to book in the future, you have to invest in both,” Franker said.

Roush added that investing in AI is actually not expensive. There are ways to incorporate AI into any budget.

“Access to a ChatGPT team account costs $30 or less per user, so my main focus is to show people how to use these existing tools without requiring huge financial investments,” she explained.

While this is not a small cost, it is not so large that Roush’s team would have to revise its budget.

In addition, the team has a specific budget item for training purposes – both for staff and members, she said.

Should DMOs play a role in promoting direct bookings?

Another point raised in Carne’s article is that by helping the many suppliers become more tech-savvy, DMOs could also help them be more successful in the future, when AI could advance trip planning by making it more visible to travelers, potentially minimizing their reliance on online travel agencies for bookings.

Franker said it’s possible that a DMO could help its suppliers increase direct bookings.

“By implementing an AI tool like our Rocky Mountain Roamer through GuideGeek, we can guide potential travelers through the booking process, answer questions in real time and recommend local providers,” said Franker.

And Franker believes that AI plays a role in this.

“We educate Rocky Mountain Roamers on a wide range of topics with the goal of guiding them through the marketing funnel from trip planning to booking. And we can access the backend of the GuideGeek system in real time and bring human recommendations into the conversation as well,” Franker said. “So the answers can be part human and part technical. This allows us to sell more than technology alone could.”

Roush, meanwhile, does not believe that direct bookings should be a priority for DMOs in terms of responsibility.

As long as the destination is successfully promoted, she doesn’t care how bookings are made. “Whether the bookings are made directly or through third parties is not necessarily an aspect that interests us,” said Roush.

“We would phrase it this way: ‘How do we drive business for our 1,700 New York City Tourism members?’ Well, it’s restaurants, hotels, Broadway shows, the ticket companies – so we’re definitely driving business for our members, (that) is a … core part of our mission.”

However, the exact question of “how” to use AI for destination and experience marketing is more nuanced, so we will continue to test and learn.

“There’s no user manual for generative AI, so we can’t say, ‘Oh, just call OpenAI and their DMO or their attraction training department will be happy to help you,'” Roush said. “OpenAI doesn’t take that call.”

She continued, “So we can all write the user guide together, and DMOs are facilitators at the center of their communities… this opportunity for us as facilitators to say, ‘Great, this is how we use it. These are ideas for how you might use it. This is how this group here uses it,’ and create an environment for sharing. I think that’s something a DMO is great at.”