A destination's reputation doesn't live in its advertising.
It lives in people's minds.
And, perhaps more importantly, it is reinforced—or challenged—by what travelers actually experience upon arrival.
That makes the latest destination reputation research from Destinations International and Future Partners particularly important. Their Destination Reputation: Impact on the Traveling Consumer's Considerations study explores how travelers process issues, including safety, severe weather, politics, social issues, homelessness, negative media, and geopolitical conflict, while deciding where to travel.
The research is intentionally directional rather than statistically projectable. But the patterns that emerged from traveler conversations should get the attention of every destination leader.
Reputation issues can create hesitation. Severe weather, crime, and safety emerged particularly frequently. Travelers still want to know what there is to experience in the destination. Honesty coupled with evidence of action increases credibility. And perhaps most importantly:
Advertising can enhance a destination's appeal, but it alone cannot resolve deeper reputation problems.
That last finding deserves considerably more attention.
Because if advertising can't solve a reputation problem by itself, what can?
Part of the answer may be sitting behind the front desk, driving the shuttle, serving the coffee, staffing the attraction, welcoming the convention, answering questions online, volunteering at the festival, operating a small business, or simply living in the community.
People are the reputation infrastructure of a destination.
And that means destination reputation isn't only a marketing challenge.
It's an education challenge.
Destination organizations invest tremendous time, research, creativity, and money in developing their brands.
Then a visitor arrives.
Suddenly, that carefully constructed brand is no longer primarily a campaign.
It's an experience.
The welcoming destination meets the traveler at the hotel front desk.
The destination is accessible to a traveler navigating a sidewalk.
The inclusive destination meets a same-sex couple asking a local for a recommendation.
The safe destination meets a visitor who isn't sure which neighborhood to explore.
The sustainable destination meets an employee being asked where to dispose of something.
The friendly destination meets a restaurant server at the end of a double shift.
The prepared destination meets a visitor whose plans have just been disrupted by severe weather.
Every one of those moments either reinforces the destination's reputation or creates friction with it.
That's why reputation management can't stop with the marketing department.
One of the most encouraging findings in the research is that travelers don't appear to expect destinations to pretend problems don't exist.
In fact, the opposite may be true.
When travelers encountered messaging acknowledging an issue, they responded more favorably when that acknowledgment was accompanied by awareness, action, or progress. They appreciated honesty without wanting advertising to dwell excessively on negative issues.
That's a powerful distinction.
There is an enormous difference between saying:
"There's nothing to worry about."
and demonstrating:
"We understand the concern. Here's what's happening. Here's what we're doing. Here's what you need to know."
The report later recommends this approach essentially: explain what travelers may be hearing, what is true today, and what visitors can expect. It also encourages destinations to elevate local hospitality, transportation, venues, and other partners, where appropriate, to demonstrate coordinated action.
But coordination requires something before communication:
People have to know what to say and do.
That's where education enters the reputation strategy.
Suppose a destination is dealing with negative media coverage.
The destination organization's communications team knows the facts.
But does the hotel concierge?
Does the attraction employee?
Does the volunteer working a major event?
Does the restaurant manager?
Does the visitor center staff member?
Do local business owners?
Do residents who regularly interact with visitors?
Do meeting and event professionals bringing groups into the community?
The report found that negative media often prompted travelers to seek additional context and up-to-date, practical information rather than relying solely on headlines.
That creates an enormous opportunity.
Instead of thinking only about what the destination organization should publish, we can ask:
How do we equip the people visitors already trust to provide useful, accurate, empathetic information?
Not scripts.
Not spin.
Understanding.
A short learning module can explain the situation, identify credible resources, demonstrate how to respond to common questions, clarify what employees should not speculate about, and provide examples of empathetic conversations.
Suddenly, the destination doesn't have one communications team.
It has thousands of informed people reinforcing credible information.
Many organizations develop crisis communication plans.
Far fewer build crisis learning plans.
There's an important difference.
A communications plan asks:
What will we say?
A learning plan asks:
What do our people need to know and be able to do?
Consider severe weather.
The research found that travelers distinguish between manageable or seasonal weather risks and situations suggesting major disruption or uncertainty. Timing plays an important role in whether they reconsider travel.
The report recommends focusing on preparedness, planning information, how advisories work, and how visitors receive updates.
Now extend that recommendation beyond the website.
What if tourism employees across the destination understood:
That's not advertising.
That's destination readiness.
And the same model can apply to safety concerns, wildfires, hurricanes, political demonstrations, transportation disruptions, major events, public health concerns, negative media cycles, and other situations that affect traveler confidence.
Crime and safety were among the most prominent concerns discussed by travelers in the study, particularly when combined with signals such as government travel advisories.
But the researchers also found skepticism toward unsupported declarations that a destination is "safe."
Instead, practical information and contextual cues tended to feel more credible. The report recommends helping travelers navigate neighborhoods with confidence through neighborhood information, transportation guidance, accessibility resources, and visitor support contacts, rather than relying on broad reassurances.
Think about who delivers much of that information.
People.
A well-trained frontline employee doesn't need to say, "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe."
They can say:
"Here's the easiest way to get there."
"This is the transportation option I'd recommend."
"Here's where you'll find the most current information."
"Let me show you the neighborhood on the map."
"Here's who to contact if you need assistance."
That interaction does something an advertisement can't.
It gives the traveler confidence through competence.
Politics and social issues present an even more complicated challenge.
The research suggests travelers generally don't expect destination advertising to solve political realities. Welcoming and empathetic messaging may be appreciated, but travelers can remain skeptical of attempts to market around larger political concerns.
This is precisely where scripted responses can fail.
A traveler saying, "I'm not sure I feel welcome here," isn't necessarily asking for a talking point.
They're expressing a concern.
The first skill required isn't persuasion.
It's listening.
That's why destination reputation training should include more than facts about attractions.
People representing a destination need opportunities to practice:
Empathy. Active listening. Inclusive hospitality. Cultural competency. Difficult conversations. Accessibility. De-escalation. Problem solving. Knowing when to answer and when to connect someone with a better resource.
Those are reputation-management skills.
They just aren't usually described that way.
At Learn Tourism, we believe this is where Education With Empathy™ becomes particularly important.
We're not trying to train people to win arguments about their community.
We're helping them become more capable hosts, advocates, listeners, problem-solvers, and sources of trustworthy information.
There's another lesson hidden inside this research.
Strong destination reputation matters before something goes wrong.
For example, homelessness surfaced primarily in discussions about urban destinations, but travelers did not always view it as a deterrent—particularly when the destination brand was already strong and familiar.
That suggests something important:
Reputation is a reservoir.
You don't want to start filling it when the crisis begins.
Every positive interaction contributes.
Every knowledgeable employee contributes.
Every inclusive welcome contributes.
Every resident who understands tourism contributes.
Every small business that delivers on the destination promise contributes.
Every visitor who returns home with a story that contradicts an outdated stereotype contributes.
Destination reputation is being built every day, one interaction at a time.
We often talk about earned media, paid media, owned media, and social media.
Maybe destinations need to think more intentionally about human media.
The people visitors encounter.
The people prospective travelers ask.
The people posting photographs from their neighborhoods.
The people answering questions in online communities.
The people telling friends, relatives, customers, conference attendees, and strangers what their community is really like.
Destination organizations cannot control those conversations.
Nor should they try.
But they can invest in helping more people understand the destination.
That means educating residents about tourism's role in the community.
Helping frontline employees understand the destination beyond their individual business.
Teaching tourism partners about accessibility and inclusion.
Giving stakeholders current information during moments of uncertainty.
Training people to tell authentic local stories.
Creating continuing education that keeps graduates engaged after their initial training.
Building communities where destination advocates can remain informed.
This isn't about turning everyone into a spokesperson.
It's about creating informed humans who can speak authentically about the place they know.
One of the clearest recommendations in the report is to use advertising to support appeal rather than expecting it to solve reputation concerns on its own.
That's worth repeating.
Marketing absolutely matters.
Beautiful creative matters.
Compelling storytelling matters.
Great itineraries matter.
Strong destination brands matter.
But eventually the promise made by the campaign has to survive contact with reality.
That's where education becomes part of brand management.
If your campaign says you're welcoming, train for welcoming.
If your strategy says you're accessible, train for accessibility.
If your brand celebrates your diverse community, build cultural competency.
If sustainability matters, teach stakeholders what sustainable visitor behavior looks like.
If safety concerns affect perception, equip people with practical information.
If community vitality is central to your destination strategy, help residents understand how tourism contributes to it.
If you want visitors to discover places beyond the obvious attractions, teach the people they ask for recommendations.
Whatever you promise externally, build the human capacity to deliver internally.
Perhaps the question isn't:
"How do we improve our destination's reputation?"
Maybe it's:
"How many people in our community are prepared to reinforce the reputation we're trying to build?"
That changes the strategy.
Reputation management is no longer exclusively a marketing function.
It becomes a workforce development strategy.
A resident engagement strategy.
A community alignment strategy.
A visitor services strategy.
A crisis preparedness strategy.
A destination stewardship strategy.
And, ultimately, an education strategy.
The Destinations International and Future Partners research concludes with practical recommendations: lead with experiences, provide easy pathways to trustworthy information, acknowledge concerns while demonstrating action, provide practical context, represent a broad range of travelers, and don't expect advertising alone to resolve complex reputation issues.
We'd add one more:
Teach the destination.
Teach people what you're trying to accomplish.
Teach them the stories behind the place.
Teach them how to welcome different people.
Teach them where to find reliable information.
Teach them how to respond when something goes wrong.
Teach them how their individual actions contribute to the experience visitors take home.
Then give them opportunities to keep learning.
Because a destination's reputation isn't ultimately what its advertising says.
It's the accumulation of what people see, hear, feel, experience, and share with others.
And while destination organizations can't control every one of those moments, they can help prepare the people who create them.
Your destination's reputation is everyone's job.
Education helps everyone become better at it.
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 - the nonprofit academy. 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.