Every fall, destination leaders sit down with next year's budget and run into the same line item: training. For years that line meant roughly the same thing. Book a speaker for the annual meeting, refresh the frontline customer service module, and maybe send a few staff members to a conference.
That approach isn't wrong. It's just not enough anymore.
The people who shape a visitor's experience have changed, and so have the tools, the expectations, and the pressure on tourism to show it gives back to the communities that host it. So it's worth asking what it actually means for destination training to evolve in 2027, beyond adding a few new courses to the catalog.
Learn Tourism works with 60+ destination partners and has supported more than 50,000 learners. Here's what we're seeing, and what we'd encourage every DMO to plan for.
Destination training is education designed to help the people who shape a visitor's experience (DMO staff, frontline hospitality workers, tourism partners, volunteers, and residents) understand their destination and represent it with confidence. It includes tourism ambassador programs, customer service and hospitality training, partner onboarding, travel trade and travel agent training, and professional development for destination teams.
The key word is destination. Generic customer service training teaches people to be polite. Destination training teaches them to be proud, informed, and ready to say, "Oh, you have to try this place two blocks over."
In short, tourism training is moving from one-time courses for employees to ongoing learning experiences for everyone who touches the visitor experience, measured by what people do differently afterward. Five shifts stand out.
For a long time, success was measured by completion rate. Did people finish the module? Did they pass the quiz?
Those numbers still matter, but more destinations are now asking a better question: what did people do differently afterward? Did the front desk team start recommending local businesses by name? Did volunteers feel more confident answering questions about accessibility? Did partners actually use what they learned?
That pushes training design toward active learning. Think scenarios, storytelling, reflection prompts, and "try this on your next shift" challenges, not slides with a quiz at the end. (We dig into this in Understanding Tourism Training Engagement.) At Learn Tourism we sum this up in a phrase: we don't create courses, we create learning experiences.
What to do: Before you buy or build anything for 2027, write down two or three observable behaviors you want to see. Design or choose training that works backward from those.
The person who makes a visitor's day might not work for you. They might be a rideshare driver, a museum volunteer, a server, a library clerk, or a neighbor giving directions on a street corner.
Destinations are increasingly opening training to residents, small business owners, students, and even elected officials beyond their own staff. A strong tourism ambassador program is one of the most effective ways to do this, because it gives the whole community a shared language for hospitality and a reason to feel proud of where they live.
This is also where training becomes community engagement. When residents learn the "why" behind tourism (the jobs it supports, the businesses it sustains, the stories it helps tell), they're more likely to see visitors as guests instead of an inconvenience.
What to do: Map every group that shapes the visitor experience in your destination. Then ask which of them currently has access to any kind of training. The gaps are your opportunity.
AI tools are already showing up in visitor services, content creation, research, and sales. Most destination teams are somewhere in what we've called the messy middle, where people use AI in very different ways and have no shared norms yet.
In 2027, AI literacy should be included in the professional development plan alongside customer service and destination knowledge. That doesn't mean everyone has to become a technologist. It means people understand what these tools are good at, where they fall short, how to check their output, and how to protect visitor and partner data.
The human side matters just as much. Training is one of the best ways to address the quiet worry some staff feel about what AI means for their roles, because it gives them a chance to ask questions and build confidence together. Done well, AI handles more of the routine work so your people can lead with humanity.
What to do: Add at least one hands-on AI session to your 2027 training calendar, built around your team's real tools and real questions, not a generic demo.
Sustainability and destination stewardship used to be separate topics, an "advanced" module for people who cared about them. That separation is fading.
Visitors, residents, and funders increasingly expect destinations to manage tourism responsibly. Destination teams therefore need a working understanding of stewardship: how to encourage respectful visitor behavior, support local and underrepresented businesses, share cultural stories accurately, and balance growth with quality of life.
The most effective approach weaves stewardship into the training people already take. A frontline module on recommendations can include which businesses to recommend and why spreading visitors out matters. An ambassador program can include the stories residents want told about their home. (Wondering who should own this work? See Who Owns Stewardship?)
What to do: Review your existing training and look for natural places where stewardship belongs. Treat it as a lens you apply everywhere, not an add-on.
Frontline schedules are unpredictable, turnover is real, and a once-a-year training day can't keep up. Destinations are moving toward learning that fits into the flow of work: short lessons, mobile access, self-paced options paired with live discussion, and content available in the languages their workforce and community actually speak.
Accessibility here means more than compliance. It means designing for the seasonal employee who has 15 minutes between shifts, the volunteer who's new to technology, and the partner who speaks English as a second language.
What to do: Ask your frontline teams when and how they could realistically learn. Design around their answer, not the org chart's.
It means treating training less like an event and more like infrastructure: an ongoing investment in the people and partners who deliver your destination's promise.
In practice, that could look like:
None of this requires starting from scratch. Most destinations already have the raw material: local knowledge, passionate people, and stories worth telling. The evolution is in how intentionally you shape that material into learning.
Here's a simple exercise for your leadership team before the 2027 budget is final. Ask each person to finish this sentence:
"If our training worked perfectly next year, the thing a visitor would notice is…"
Compare the answers. If they're all different, you've found your first conversation. If they're the same, you've found your north star, and you can build everything else from there.
A tourism ambassador program trains residents, frontline workers, volunteers, and partners to welcome visitors and share accurate, enthusiastic information about their destination. Strong programs build community pride and local knowledge alongside customer service skills.
Anyone who shapes the visitor experience: DMO staff, hotel and restaurant employees, attraction staff, transportation workers, visitor center volunteers, small business owners, and residents. In 2027, more destinations are extending training beyond their own employees.
Start with completion and assessment data, then look further at behavior and confidence. Useful signals include participant reflections, partner feedback, visitor comments, and whether people apply specific skills on the job.
Yes. As AI tools enter visitor services, marketing, and research, destination teams benefit from practical training on using them responsibly, verifying their output, and protecting visitor and partner data.
Consistently, in small doses, is usually more effective than a single annual training day. Short, flexible lessons combined with periodic live discussion help people retain and apply what they learn, especially in high-turnover roles.
At Learn Tourism, we help destinations design learning experiences that are Transformative, Engaging, and Accessible, for staff, partners, and entire communities. If you're shaping your 2027 training plan and want a thinking partner, let's talk about how your destination could evolve.
Stephen Ekstrom is the embodiment of a passionate lifelong learner and a seasoned professional in the tourism industry, serving as the CEO and founder of Learn Tourism | learntourism.org. With over 25 years of experience, he has cultivated a deep understanding of tourism development and education, driven by his commitment to advancing the industry and fostering sustainable economies. Stephen's insatiable curiosity and love of knowledge have made him a proud nerd, constantly seeking to expand his expertise and share his insights with others. Alongside his faithful furry companions, Rudy and Marjorie, he embraces the digital nomad lifestyle, traversing the globe and immersing himself in diverse cultures. A dedicated advocate for continuous improvement, Stephen is a professional member of the Association for Talent Development and a member of Skal International. Stephen holds prestigious certifications in Inclusive and Ethical Leadership from USF, AI Governance and Ethics from Brown University, Sustainable Business Strategy and Transforming Customer Experiences from Harvard Business School, and Sustainable Tourism Destination Management from Cornell.